Benthic microbial biogeography across the Gulf of Mexico

The microbial ecology of oligotrophic deep ocean sediments is understudied relative to their shallow or natural hydrocarbon seep counterparts, and this lack of understanding hampers our ability to predict responses to current and future perturbations. The Gulf of Mexico has experienced two of the largest accidental marine oil spills, with the 1979 Ixtoc-1 blowout in the Southern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon discharge in the Northern GoM. However, prior to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, the microorganisms present in the oligotrophic Gulf of Mexico deep seafloor were virtually unknown. Thus, the objectives of this research are to (1) characterize deep ocean sedimentary microbial communities to establish baseline conditions over large spatial scales, and (2) effectively model the microbial community response to sedimentary oil deposition to guide future response efforts.