Bacteria in the gulf mostly digested gas, not oil, study finds

Thursday, September 16, 2010 - 16:21 in Earth & Climate

The discovery tempers hopes that microorganisms have eaten up most of the spilled oil in the gulf, as other scientists had recently suggested, the lead author says.Bacteria that attacked the plumes of oil and gas resulting from the Deepwater Horizon gusher in the Gulf of Mexico mainly digested natural gas spewing from the wellhead — propane, ethane and butane — rather than oil, according to a study published in the journal Science.

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