Fe-oxide grain coatings support bacterial Fe-reducing metabolisms in 1.7-2.0 km-deep subsurface quartz arenite sandstone reservoirs of the Illinois Basin (USA).

ABSTRACT: The Cambrian-age Mt. Simon Sandstone, deeply buried within the Illinois Basin of the midcontinent of North America, contains quartz sand grains ubiquitously encrusted with iron-oxide cements and dissolved ferrous iron in pore-water. Although microbial iron reduction has previously been documented in the deep terrestrial subsurface, the potential for diagenetic mineral cementation to drive microbial activity has not been well studied. In this study, two subsurface formation water samples were collected at 1.72 and 2.02 km, respectively, from the Mt. Simon Sandstone in Decatur, Illinois. Low-diversity microbial communities were detected from both horizons and were dominated by Halanaerobiales of Phylum Firmicutes. Iron-reducing enrichment cultures fed with ferric citrate were successfully es

SUBMITTER: Dong Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4179719 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature