Methyl Sulfonyl Methane Page 8 sulfur Saved For The End One more bit of personal history. Many years ago I was personally involved in a project aimed at reducing smog caused by cars burning gasoline. At the time I learned, to my amazement, that much of the smog was caused by an ingredient in gasoline that was actually the waste matter from bacteria that lived in crude oil. These amazing bugs actually live in the crude oil and can LIVE through the extremely high temperatures of crude oil refining, where crude oil is turned into gasoline.
Crude oil contains a lot of sulfur.
There is much more to tell you here, but I learned this, and forgot it, and re-learned it just this week. There are actually life-forms, small bacteria, that don't require oxygen, can live in extremely high temperature situations, and eat sulfur in order to grow. Finally, you see part of the title of this article. The sulfur cycle also involves microscopic plants, plankton, living in the ocean. This sulfur escapes from the ocean water into the atmosphere, and rises to the upper altitudes where it meets with the ozone and ultraviolet light.