Sponsor
The subseafloor flow cell enrichment chambers were funded by a small grant from the Ocean Drilling Program. The idea for the flow cells was developed at a workshop in Bergen, Norway (2002), which was supported by the University of Bergen and the Ocean Drilling Program. This work was also funded by NASA grant NNX08AO22G, NSF OCE 0727119 to C.G.W., NSF OCE 0452333 to S.M.S., and OCE‐0550713 and OCE‐0727952 to A.T.F., PSU, and OSU. Unimin Co. provided the Fo₉₀ olivine.
Published In
Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-21-2011
Subjects
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Marine sediments -- Juan de Fuca Ridge, Borings -- Juan de Fuca Ridge, Microbiology -- Juan de Fuca Ridge, Hydrogeology -- Juan de Fuca Ridge
Abstract
The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Hole 1301A on the eastern flank of Juan de Fuca Ridge was used in the first long-term deployment of microbial enrichment flow cells using osmotically driven pumps in a subseafloor borehole. Three novel osmotically driven colonization systems with unidirectional flow were deployed in the borehole and incubated for 4 years to determine the microbial colonization preferences for 12 minerals and glasses present in igneous rocks. Following recovery of the colonization systems, we measured cell density on the minerals and glasses by fluorescent staining and direct counting and found some significant differences between mineral samples. We also determined the abundance of mesophilic and thermophilic culturable organotrophs grown on marine R2A medium and identified isolates by partial 16S or 18S rDNA sequencing. We found that nine distinct phylotypes of culturable mesophilic oligotrophs were present on the minerals and glasses and that eight of the nine can reduce nitrate and oxidize iron. Fe(II)-rich olivine minerals had the highest density of total countable cells and culturable organotrophic mesophiles, as well as the only culturable organotrophic thermophiles. These results suggest that olivine (a common igneous mineral) in seawater-recharged ocean crust is capable of supporting microbial communities, that iron oxidation and nitrate reduction may be important physiological characteristics of ocean crust microbes, and that heterogeneously distributed minerals in marine igneous rocks likely influence the distribution of microbial communities in the ocean crust.
DOI
10.1029/2010GC003424
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/7147
Citation Details
Smith, A., R. Popa, M. Fisk, M. Nielsen, C. G. Wheat, H. W. Jannasch, A. T. Fisher, K. Becker, S. M. Sievert, and G. Flores (2011), In situ enrichment of ocean crust microbes on igneous minerals and glasses using an osmotic flow‐through device, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems, 12(6), Q06007.
Description
This is the publisher's final PDF. The published article is copyrighted by American Geophysical Union and can be found at: http://www.agu.org/journals/gc/.