Long-term sustainability of a high-energy, low-diweniff crystal-biome
Publication Year
2006
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Geochemical, microbiological, and molecular analyses of alkaline saline groundwater at 2.8 kilometers depth in Archaean metabasalt revealed a microbial biome dominated by. a single phylotype affiliated with thermophilic sulfate reducers belonging to Firmicutes. These sulfate reducers were sustained by geologically produced sulfate and hydrogen at concentrations sufficient to maintain activities for millions of years with no apparent reliance on photosynthetically derived substrates.
Keywords
Basalt,
geochemistry,
Groundwater,
Photosynthesis,
reduction,
Salts,
Metabasalt,
Microbial biomes,
microbiology,
ground water,
hydrogen,
sulfate,
Archean,
biome,
Groundwater,
high energy environment,
hydrogen,
metabasalt,
molecular analysis,
salinity,
sulfate,
sulfate-reducing bacterium,
Archean,
Article,
biome,
environmental sustainability,
Firmicutes,
geochemical analysis,
microbiology,
photosynthesis,
priority journal,
Bacteria,
Biodiversity,
DNA,
Ribosomal,
ecosystem,
Gold,
hydrogen,
mining,
Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis,
Oxidation-Reduction,
phylogeny,
RNA,
Ribosomal,
16S,
South Africa,
Sulfates,
Temperature,
thermodynamics,
time,
Water Microbiology,
Firmicutes
Journal
Science
Volume
314
Pages
479-482