Mysterious blobs that washed up on N.L. beaches still have secrets to reveal, says scientist

For people curious about the mystery of the blobs washing up on Newfoundland shores, a St. John's scientist says there are still some secrets that have to be cracked.

Earlier this week, Memorial University chemistry professor Chris Kozak said his testing on the blobs — which included things like setting them on fire — had determined that the substance was polyvinyl acetate, or PVA, which is often used as an industrial adhesive or glue.

After carrying out further research through examining a sample with an analytical technique called mass spectrometry, which allows scientists to look at something in smaller components, he said he discovered the blobs also contain something else.

"When we look at the smaller components, that is consistent with PVA but also with synthetic latex rubber. So this is a mixture of synthetic isoprene and butyl rubber with PVA," Kozak told CBC Radio's The Broadcast.

"So we were right in saying it's PVA, but it also has some synthetic latex rubber in there as well."

Pinpointing source

In recent days, Kozak said he has heard from from people theorizing on the origins of the blobs, which drifted up Placentia Bay to land on several beaches. 

"I've definitely heard several theories. I've had some reasonable ones and some really out there ones," he said in an interview. 

One of the theories he's leaning toward came from someone familiar with the oil and gas industry, who suggested the blobs were connected to material used to flush sea water out of pipes in tankers and oil rigs.

"Sometimes they admit that this stuff would end up in the sea and sometimes it would end up actually going into the hold of the tanker and maybe the tanker would have expelled this," he said. 

Placentia Bay is north of widely used shipping lanes that connect North America with Europe. 

Kozak said he has learned the cleaner is "affectionately" refereed to as "seal pups." because when they come out of a tube they look like young seals. 

Kozak got involved in investigating the blobs when Hilary Corlett, an assistant professor with Memorial University's earth sciences department, reached out to him with samples.

He said one of the samples he hadn't yet analyzed was dirtier than others.

"The surface definitely looked like it was stained with oily material like crude oil," he said.

"So now I'm going to go have a look at that and see what this darkish coloured material is on the surface of the blob, as opposed to the blob itself," said Kozak.

Further mystery

Nova Scotia's environment department has also reached out to Kozak about its own mystery blobs, he said.

"There are a couple of people who were based in Cape Breton Island who said back in January they had a couple of sort of bergy bit-sized bits of material wash ashore as well," said Kozak. Bergy bits describe small chunks of ice that come off icebergs as they melt. 

Kozak received photos, and said the blobs looked like they had formed in a fish tray or large cooler. Department officials also told him that samples had been sent to another university but that testing only determined that the material is synthetic.

"So I said, 'Well send me some of the sample if you can and I'll cross-reference it against my material and tell you at least if it's the same thing or if it's quite different.'"

Kozak has been enjoying diving into the mystery of the blobs, which have garnered international media attention. 

"I never thought I'd see that on my CV," he said, laughing.

"But I'm glad that I've been able to find the time in my busy schedule to do this, and my graduate students are happy to help out."

Kozak has not yet heard from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Environment and Climate Change Canada or other government officials.

"I suspect the main reason is if they do suspect that this is an example of industrial pollution — of someone behaving badly — that they want to make sure that they know exactly what it is and they can trace it," he said. 

If there are charges that could be laid, he believes the government's legal team wants to be sure everything has been done above board.

However, Kozak has been contacted for interviews by other media outlets, particularly Canadian media outlets in English and French and even the Guardian, based in the U.K.

"I think in the U.S. right now, they're dealing with other things on their media, so this might take a few days to trickle down to them."

"I've definitely been contacted by some really 'out there' media outlets as well," he said, citing conspiracy theories that, for instance, believe the blobs are connected to wind energy turbines.

Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.