The new findings suggest that in the deepwater horizon oil spill, the propane and ethane trapped in the depths of the sea gave bacteria a quick start to digest the spilled material, and they may change over time. Prepare the bacterial population to take on the task of processing more complex hydrocarbons.

Although the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil well was generally related to an oil spill, it also released natural gas, and most of the natural gas remained in the deep ocean under high pressure, instead of escaping to the surface of the ocean. From June 11 to 21, david valentine and his colleagues sampled deep seawater at 31 sites, which are located within 1 to 12.5 kilometers of active crude oil spills. They found 4 hydrocarbon pillars at different water depths, and these hydrocarbon pillars pointed in different directions.

The researchers analyzed the natural gas content and bacterial activity in these water samples, and compared the newer hydrocarbon columns closer to the crude oil spill with those further away from older hydrocarbon columns. . They confirmed that ethane and propane (these are relatively simple hydrocarbons) breathed by bacteria are the main processes that cause the oxygen concentration in these waters to drop. Similarly, the bacterial DNA collected from the latest hydrocarbon column samples reflects the early development of these hydrocarbon-degrading bacterial populations.