Comparison of microbial community compositions of two subglacial environments reveals a possible role for microbes in chemical weathering processes.

ABSTRACT: Viable microbes have been detected beneath several geographically distant glaciers underlain by different lithologies, but comparisons of their microbial communities have not previously been made. This study compared the microbial community compositions of samples from two glaciers overlying differing bedrock. Bulk meltwater chemistry indicates that sulfide oxidation and carbonate dissolution account for 90% of the solute flux from Bench Glacier, Alaska, whereas gypsum/anhydrite and carbonate dissolution accounts for the majority of the flux from John Evans Glacier, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada. The microbial communities were examined using two techniques: clone libraries and dot blot hybridization of 16S rRNA genes. Two hundred twenty-seven clones containing amplified 16S rRNA genes

SUBMITTER: Skidmore M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1287656 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature