Grad Student Bociu Digs into How Long Buried Oil Persists in Sandy Beaches
Petroleum hydrocarbons buried in sandy beaches are protected from tides and UV light and, thus, may persist longer in the environment than oil on the beach surface.
Study Assesses How Sunlight and Microbial Degradation Affect Oil-Derived Sand Patties
Researchers analyzed the combined effects of photooxidation and biodegradation on sand patties associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident. The scientists found that irradiation contributed to increased concentrations of dissolved organic carbon, which leached from sand patties penetrated by seawater.
Unraveling the Mystery of Oil Compounds, Weathering, and Toxicity
Responders to the Deepwater Horizon spill used large quantities of dispersant to facilitate oil biodegradation, but could a different method be safer for the environment?
Study: Nitrogen Enhances Microbial Oil Degradation
Scientists from Brown University and the University of Rhode Island investigated how Alcanivorax borkumensis, a dominate bacterium in marine environments that contain high hydrocarbon levels, can be supported to naturally degrade oil.
Study Suggests Biodegradation Strongly Influences Oil Spill Transport Predictions
Scientists simulated twenty subsurface spill scenarios, using data reflective of the Deepwater Horizon spill, and found large differences in transport predictions when model parameters included bacterial consumption (biodegradation) of oil droplets.
Study Quantifies Photooxidation and Biodegradation of Surface Oil
Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin assessed photooxidation and biodegradation rates on different hydrocarbon groups.
Reddy Demystifies Oil Degradation and Fingerprinting in Educational Videos
Biodegradation? Chromatography? While scientists toss these terms around with no problem, they can sound like a foreign language to others.
Study Improves Tracking and Forecasting of Underwater Oil Plumes
Scientists used models, lab experiments, and observations from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to evaluate the importance of variables in oil transport and fate models, particularly those influencing underwater plume development.
Study Indicates “Memory” of Benzene Remains in Marsh Sediment and Affects Its Future Degradation
Researchers have known that pollutant exposure alters the ability of ecological systems to degrade those pollutants upon encountering them again.
Chemical Study Shows Different Patterns of Oil Weathering
Scientists studying the weathering processes that altered the oil released during the Deepwater Horizon spill recently published their findings in the September 2012 Issue of Environmental Research Letters