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Nature 426, 344-352 (20 November 2003) | doi:10.1038/nature02134
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Three Associate Senior Lecturer positions within Natural Sciences
- The University of Kalmar
- Kalmar, Sweden
Scientist, Recombinant Protein Expression
- Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen
- Copenhagen 2200 Denmark
Review article Biological activity in the deep subsurface and the origin of heavy oil
Ian M. Head, D. Martin Jones & Steve R. Larter
Abstract
At temperatures up to about 80 °C, petroleum in subsurface reservoirs is often biologically degraded, over geological timescales, by microorganisms that destroy hydrocarbons and other components to produce altered, denser 'heavy oils'. This temperature threshold for hydrocarbon biodegradation might represent the maximum temperature boundary for life in the deep nutrient-depleted Earth. Most of the world's oil was biodegraded under anaerobic conditions, with methane, a valuable commodity, often being a major by-product, which suggests alternative approaches to recovering the world's vast heavy oil resource that otherwise will remain largely unproduced.
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