A Florida State University researcher found that bacteria in the Gulf of Mexico consumed many of the toxic components of the oil released during the Deepwater Horizon spill in the months after the spill, but not the most toxic contaminants.
In two new studies conducted in a deep sea plume, Assistant Professor Olivia Mason found a species of bacteria called Colwellia likely consumed gaseous hydrocarbons and perhaps benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene compounds that were released as part of the oil spill. However, her research also shows that bacteria did not consume the most toxic parts of the oil spill in the water column plume or in the oil that settled on the ocean floor.
The most toxic contaminants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or PAHs, are a group of semi-volatile organic compounds that are present in crude oil and can cause long-term health problems such as cancer.
“Those PAHs could persist for a long time, particularly if they are buried in the ocean floor where lack of oxygen would slow PAH degradation by microorganisms,” Mason said. “They’re going to persist in the environment and have deleterious effects on whatever is living in the sediment.”
When the Deepwater Horizon spill occurred, more than 4 million barrels of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Some of that oil has not been accounted for, and has unknown environmental and health consequences for the region.
