(Tarik Tinazay / Getty Images)

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster had wider geographic implications than previously thought, according to a published in the journal Biology Letters,undertaken by researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Despite conventional wisdom that the spill was largely confined to the northern waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the new analysis found that over 300,000 juvenile sea turtles (including endangered species like green, loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley) originating in nesting populations outside of the United States were exposed to the petrochemicals in the Atlantic Ocean. Approximately 95 percent of the turtles came from regions which included . Utilizing a computer simulation, the scientists looked at the movements of ocean currents over a five year period and calculated the probability that the turtles would have been within the vicinity of oil-impacted water.

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This infographic shows the likelihood of particles from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill location (yellow star) impacting sea turtle nesting sites (white squares) within 5 years based on oceanographic movements.

(Nathan Putman, Ph.D. UM Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science)

The researchers did not delve into the health aspects of the oil spill exposure for the sea turtles which previous studies have shown cause organ damage as well as decreased survival/reproductive rates.

"What we're hoping is that this information will be useful in how to best restore turtle populations," Nathan Putman, lead author on the study, told weather.com. "If we want to mitigate the problem, the remedies will be more complicated than cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico."

Putman explained that he hopes the study will be used by policymakers to expand conservation efforts beyond the United States.

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A green sea turtle in an undated photo provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (NOAA)