As if fighting other nations over oil wasn't complicated enough, scientists at UC Santa Barbara have discovered an oil-feeding bacteria in their coastal waters that may be stealing the oil right out from under us... literally.
Microorganisms have always tested the extent of new boundaries, so even with talk of oil-eating, we seem to just accept their bizarre behaviors.
"It takes a special organism to live half a mile deep in the Earth and eat oil for a living," David Valentine, assocaite professor of UC Santa Barbara explains. "There's this incredibly complex diet ...down there. It's like a buffet."
A buffet of petroleum. yummy right?
(photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy)
Although theses organisms have previously been discovered, the exact how-to of their diet has been inconclusive. Nobody knew exactly which chemical compounds were being digested, or for what purpose which brought Valentine back into the waters for a more concrete answer.
Valentine teamed up with Chris Reddy, marine chemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massechussets, to conclude this seven year project. The team took advantage of the natural lab just off the shore of Santa Barbara for thier research. "We have the world's most prolific hydrocarbon seep field sitting right offshore of Santa Barbara, about two miles out," he stated. "We have something on the order of 100 barrels of oil a day coming up from the sea floor."
(Photo credit: UCSB Department of Geography)
Although many appoint blame on Platform Holly for the prodcutivity in the bay, Valentine explains that "It's just oil that is naturally oozing out, probably has been for thousands of years... Holly just happens to be near some of these seepage areas."
This abandoned oil platform may not be the cause of the oil seepage, but it has provided an exceptional underwater testing base for Valentine and his team. It allowed easy (well, easier) access
Reddy's technnique
Collected samples from four different levels: subsurface, oceanic floor, midwaters, and surface waters.
