Indigenous Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea in Oxic Subseafloor Oceanic Crust.

ABSTRACT: Oceanic ridge flank systems represent one of the largest and least-explored microbial habitats on Earth. Fundamental ecological questions regarding community activity, recruitment, and succession in this environment remain unanswered. Here, we investigated ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) in the sediment-buried basalts on the oxic and young ridge flank at North Pond, a sediment-filled pond on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, and compared them with those in the overlying sediments and bottom seawater. Nitrification in the North Pond basement is thermodynamically favorable and is supported by a reaction-transport model simulating the dynamics of nitrate in the crustal fluids. Nitrification rate is estimated to account for 6% to 7% of oxygen consumption, which is similar to the rat

SUBMITTER: Zhao R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7065515 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature