Hydrocarbon-degrading microbes and optimum environmental parameters for growth from soil samples (oil contaminated and pristine) from Scott Base, Marble Point, Lake Vanda and Bull Pass
Abstract:
Soil surface samples and soil profile samples (pits dug down to the ice cemented surface) were collected from both oil-impacted and pristine sites in the vicinity of Scott Base and at the abandoned stations at Marble Point and near Lake Vanda and from Bull Pass in the Wright Valley. The oil-impacted sites were oil storage sites where contamination with spilt fuel oils had occurred including ... beneath the old Mogas storage tanks site west of the helo pads and below the Scott Base kitchen storage tank. The pristine samples were taken from the southern slopes of Observation Hill on Cape Armitage and from the area above Scott Base, below the road. Freshly impacted soil from below the McMurdo JP8 pipeline halfway between Scott Base and the land/sea ice transition and soil samples from historic oil spillage sites at the Terra Nova Hut Cape Evans were also collected. The samples were analyzed for hydrocarbon-degrading microbes (isolation and identification of species), culturable heterotrophs, total petroleum hydrocarbons and a range of parameters known to limit biodegradative activity including water content, nutrient concentration (C, N, P, K), pH and electrical conductivity. The aim of the study was to determine the impact of oil on the microbial population and whether the potential exists for harnessing the natural activities of these organisms for oil spill remediation. Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the potential rates for mineralisation of hydrocarbons in the soil samples. Soil descriptions, mapping and analyses are collated and managed using a GIS and associated Antarctic Soils Database to map their distribution.
