Marine scientists have spent considerable time tracing the fate of the oil from the BP Deep-Water Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Some was skimmed or burned at the surface. Some was carried in a plume under the water. And, unfortunately, some moved to shore.
Fear of large puddles of oil on Gulf Coast beaches prompted BP to use about two million gallons of a dispersant, known as Corexit, to avoid a public relations disaster. Unfortunately, Corexit was later found to be considerably more toxic to marine life than the oil alone.
Now a study by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology finds that microbial populations in the beach sands responded quickly to the arrival of oil and were effective at degrading it. These weren’t the bacteria normally found in beach sands. Certain species that feed on hydrocarbons proliferated rapidly in response to the oil. Within a year, over 12 lbs of oil/m2 of beach disappeared as a result of microbial action.
It is likely that some of these organisms could be cultured in the laboratory—ready for application at the site of future oil spills.
Certainly none of us want to see gobs of oil on a beach, nor sea birds coated with oil and unable to fly. But, we must also realize that natural processes can degrade oil, perhaps with less lasting impact than artificial chemicals and detergents.
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—From a presentation at the Southeastern Biogeochemistry Symposium by Will Overholt and colleagues, April 5, 2014, Atlanta.
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Photo, taken June 12, 2010, courtesy of Deepwater Horizon Response via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.