Bioremediation of crude oil in the active layer overlying Alaska's North Slope permafrost

The purpose of this research was to: (1) assess the impact of natural organic material (NOM) on standard methods for crude oil quantification in organic soil; (2) evaluate pyrolysis-gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS) and stable isotope analysis as techniques to aid in quantifying crude oil degradation in contaminated soils; and (3) investigate methods for improving the microbial growth environment in acidic, saturated soils. All analyses were conducted with tundra soil from Umiat, Alaska.; The mass of NOM which co-extracted with crude oil from artificially contaminated Umiat soil was appreciable for all non-polar solvents tested (i.e., 0.25-16%). Gravimetric analyses were useful for quantifying the mass of extractable NOM, but less so with crude oil due to losses from volatilization. Infrared spectroscopy was of limited value due to insensitivity of the standard method for both crude oil and extractable NOM (i.e., soil bitumens). Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry was useful for identifying and quantifying specific compounds from both crude oil and soil bitumens.; Pyrolysis-GC/MS and stable isotope analyses ({dollar}sp{lcub}13{rcub}{dollar}C) were investigated as solventless analytical techniques to quantify crude oil contamination and biological degradation in the organic, Umiat soils. Based on the studies herein, the methods each have the potential to provide valuable information about the degradation of NOM and crude oil as well as the growth of organisms in organic soils.; With a novel biological assay, the soils studied were found to contain an appreciable concentration of "bio-available" nutrients. In addition, while organisms were able to degrade NOM and crude oil at ambient soil pH ({dollar}sim{dollar}4-4.5), added alkalinity increased degradation rates by an order of magnitude. Solid peroxides were used as a source of alkalinity and molecular oxygen to stimulate microorganisms in contaminated soils. Although the studies in this research were conducted on organic soils from Arctic Alaska, the findings apply to any organic rich, acidic soil.