Microbial activity in Alaskan taiga soils contaminated by crude oil in 1976

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:452092

Monroe, E M; Lindstrom, J E; Brown, E J; Raddock, J F ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA (United States)

Biodegradation, often measured via microbial activity, includes destruction of environmental pollutants by living microorganisms and is dependent upon many physical and chemical factors. Effects of mineral nutrients and organic matter on biodegradation of Prudhoe Bay crude oil were investigated at a nineteen-year-old oil spill site in Alaskan taiga. Microcosms of two different soil types from the spill site; one undeveloped soil with forest litter and detritus (O horizon) and one more developed with lower organic content (A horizon), were treated with various nitrogen and phosphorus amendments, and incubated for up to six weeks. Each microcosm was sampled periodically and assayed for hydrocarbon mineralization potential using radiorespirometry, for total carbon dioxide respired using gas chromatography, and for numbers of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria and heterotrophic bacteria using most probable number counting techniques. Organic matter in the O horizon soil along with combinations of mineral nutrients were found to stimulate microbial activity. No combination of mineral nutrient additions to the A horizon soil stimulated any of the parameters above those measured in control microcosms. The results of this study indicate that adding mineral nutrients and tilling the O horizon into the A horizon of subarctic soils contaminated with crude oil, would stimulate microbial activity, and therefore the biodegradation potential, ultimately increasing the rate of destruction of crude oil in these soils.

• OSTI ID: 452092
• Report Number(s): CONF-961149--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
ALASKA
BIODEGRADATION
MICROORGANISMS
OIL SPILLS
PETROLEUM
REMEDIAL ACTION