Distinct Depth-Discrete Profiles of Microbial Communities and Geochemical Insights in the Subsurface Critical Zone.

ABSTRACT: Microbial assembly and metabolic potential in the subsurface critical zone (SCZ) are substantially impacted by subsurface geochemistry and hydrogeology, selecting for microbes distinct from those in surficial soils. In this study, we integrated metagenomics and geochemistry to elucidate how microbial composition and metabolic potential are shaped and impacted by vertical variations in geochemistry and hydrogeology in terrestrial subsurface sediment. A sediment core from an uncontaminated, pristine well at Oak Ridge Field Research Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, including the shallow subsurface, vadose zone, capillary fringe, and saturated zone, was used in this study. Our results showed that subsurface microbes were highly localized and that communities were rarely interconnected. Microbia

SUBMITTER: Wu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10304653 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature