Patterns of in situ Mineral Colonization by Microorganisms in a ~60°C Deep Continental Subsurface Aquifer.

ABSTRACT: The microbial ecology of the deep biosphere is difficult to characterize, owing in part to sampling challenges and poorly understood response mechanisms to environmental change. Pre-drilled wells, including oil wells or boreholes, offer convenient access, but sampling is frequently limited to the water alone, which may provide only a partial view of the native diversity. Mineral heterogeneity demonstrably affects colonization by deep biosphere microorganisms, but the connections between the mineral-associated and planktonic communities remain unclear. To understand the substrate effects on microbial colonization and the community response to changes in organic carbon, we conducted an 18-month series of in situ experiments in a warm (57°C), anoxic, fractured carbonate aquifer at 752

SUBMITTER: Mullin SW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7711152 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature