In a series of new scientific investigations, researchers learned that an unclassified, previously-unknown species of microbes is leading the way for microorganisms in the Gulf of Mexico to break down the massive underwater oil plume contaminating the area. The structure developed after the Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible drilling rig blew up on April 20, and then sunk on April 22.
As this happened, massive amounts of oil were gradually released into the waters, eventually leading to the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States.
In addition to oil sheens, tar balls and other residues that made it on land, a massive underwater plume also formed at a depth of 3,600 and 4,000 feet.
Studies of the area determined that it currently stretches about 10 miles out from the wellhead. Marine biologists know that it's currently being attacked by microbes, but a new dataset shows that the “attack” is spearheaded by previously-unclassified species of microbes.
The new investigation was carried out by experts at the US Department of Energy's (DOE)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), in California.
What puzzled the research team was discovering that the oil degradation process, which they expected would produce a dead zone, actually takes place without the microbes causing excessive oxygen depletion.
“Our findings show that the influx of oil profoundly altered the microbial community by significantly stimulating deep-sea psychrophilic (cold temperature) gamma-proteobacteria that are closely related to known petroleum-degrading microbes,” explains Terry Hazen
“This enrichment of psychrophilic petroleum degraders with their rapid oil biodegradation rates appears to be one of the major mechanisms behind the rapid decline of the deepwater dispersed oil plume that has been observed,” adds the expert.
Hazen holds an appointment as a microbial ecologist at the Berkeley Lab Earth Sciences Division. He was also the leader of the new study. The scientist also works as a principal investigator at the Energy Biosciences Institute.
“Our findings, which provide the first data ever on microbial activity from a deepwater dispersed oil plume, suggest that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep-sea,” the scientist adds.
“These findings also show that psychrophilic oil-degrading microbial populations and their associated microbial communities play a significant role in controlling the ultimate fates and consequences of deep-sea oil plumes in the Gulf of Mexico,” he concludes.
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