The rate of microbial degradation of oil in a beach gravel column.

An automatic, continuous flow respirometer was used to follow the bio-oxidation of a crude oil in a column of fairly coarse beach material. A number of water percolation rates were employed, with and without inorganic nutrient supplementation (nitrate and phosphate). Initially, nutrient supplementation was required to allow significant oxidation rates, but a capacity for biodegradation in the absence of continued supplementation developed slowly. The increase in oxidation rate with nutrient supplementation was in the proportion 0.23 mg oxygen perμmol nitrate. This proportionality was similar to previous results in this laboratory (using different systems), as was the effect of temperature. The mean of two Q10 values in this work was 2.7.