A genetic analysis suggests that petroleum-eating bacteria that live thousands of metres beneath the seafloor seep out into the ocean where they may then float along currents
The researchers sequenced portions of the DNA of the revived bacteria. The types of microbes in the samples that contained petroleum were distinct from those found in samples without petroleum. They then looked at drilling samples from around the world and found that the petroleum-eating microbes were the same type as those found in abundance thousands of metres underground at many other deep petroleum reserves.
The finding is “very beautiful evidence” that the bacteria had been carried to the seafloor from deep in the earth within the petroleum seeps, a process which can take decades to hundreds of years, saysThe bacteria’s journey probably doesn’t end there. Ocean currents could move the dormant bacteria elsewhere on the seafloor, with most of them ending up nearby but some travelling thousands of kilometres away, says Hubert.
Returned to the seafloor, the spores would then be buried in sediment, sinking to hotter depths over millions of years. If they were lucky enough to land on a petroleum deposit, the dormant spores might then come alive again, says Hubert. “They’re the toughest, most resilient life forms we know of.”
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