Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara have been investigating deep ocean dumping of DDT waste for the past decade. Support from this award will be used to expand on this research topic by supporting additional studies that will act to both congeal the scientific team that is poised to pursue this issue moving forward, as well as providing a platform for modelling and analysis of previously collected samples. Analysis of samples will further inform the contamination present and the potential of the sediment microbiome to decompose DTT and related compounds, and associated laboratory work will provide key information to link the archaic industrial synthesis of the era with the contamination present today.