The role of predicted chemotactic and hydrocarbon degrading taxa in natural source zone depletion at a legacy petroleum hydrocarbon site
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Petroleum hydrocarbon contamination is a global problem which can cause long-term environmental damage and impacts water security. Natural source zone depletion (NSZD) is the natural degradation of such contaminants. Chemotaxis is an aspect of NSZD which is not fully understood, but one that grants microorganisms the ability to alter their motion in response to a chemical concentration gradient potentially enhancing petroleum NSZD mass removal rates. This study investigates the distribution of potentially chemotactic and hydrocarbon degrading microbes (CD) across the water table of a legacy petroleum hydrocarbon site near Perth, Western Australia in areas impacted by crude oil, diesel and jet fuel. Core samples were recovered and analysed for hydrocarbon contamination using gas chromatography. Predictive metagenomic profiling was undertaken to infer functionality using a combination of 16 S rRNA sequencing and PICRUSt2 analysis. Naphthalene contamination was found to significantly increase the occurrence of potential CD microbes, including members of the Comamonadaceae and Geobacteraceae families, which may enhance NSZD. Further work to explore and define this link is important for reliable estimation of biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbon fuels. Furthermore, the outcomes suggest that the chemotactic parameter within existing NSZD models should be reviewed to accommodate CD accumulation in areas of naphthalene contamination, thereby providing a more accurate quantification of risk from petroleum impacts in subsurface environments, and the scale of risk mitigation due to NSZD.
Date Issued
2022-05
Date Acceptance
2022-02-10
Citation
Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2022, 430, pp.1-12
ISSN
0304-3894
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
12
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Hazardous Materials
Volume
430
Copyright Statement
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422002709?via%3Dihub
Subjects
Strategic, Defence & Security Studies
03 Chemical Sciences
05 Environmental Sciences
09 Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
128482
Date Publish Online
2022-02-12