Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt
Sediment-covered basalt on the flanks of mid-ocean ridges constitutes most of Earth's oceanic crust, but the composition and metabolic function of its microbial ecosystem are largely unknown. By drilling into 3.5-million-year-old subseafloor basalt, we demonstrated the presence of methane- and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2014
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87684 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1348-9584 |
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| author | Lever, Mark A. Rouxel, Olivier Alt, Jeffrey C. Shimizu, Nobumichi Ono, Shuhei Coggon, Rosalind M. Shanks III, Wayne C. Lapham, Laura Elvert, Marcus Prieto-Mollar, Xavier Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe Inagaki, Fumio Teske, Andreas |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Lever, Mark A. Rouxel, Olivier Alt, Jeffrey C. Shimizu, Nobumichi Ono, Shuhei Coggon, Rosalind M. Shanks III, Wayne C. Lapham, Laura Elvert, Marcus Prieto-Mollar, Xavier Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe Inagaki, Fumio Teske, Andreas |
| author_sort | Lever, Mark A. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Sediment-covered basalt on the flanks of mid-ocean ridges constitutes most of Earth's oceanic crust, but the composition and metabolic function of its microbial ecosystem are largely unknown. By drilling into 3.5-million-year-old subseafloor basalt, we demonstrated the presence of methane- and sulfur-cycling microbes on the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Depth horizons with functional genes indicative of methane-cycling and sulfate-reducing microorganisms are enriched in solid-phase sulfur and total organic carbon, host δ[superscript 13]C- and δ[superscript 34]S-isotopic values with a biological imprint, and show clear signs of microbial activity when incubated in the laboratory. Downcore changes in carbon and sulfur cycling show discrete geochemical intervals with chemoautotrophic δ[superscript 13]C signatures locally attenuated by heterotrophic metabolism. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:19:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/87684 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:19:19Z |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/876842022-09-26T11:13:02Z Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt Lever, Mark A. Rouxel, Olivier Alt, Jeffrey C. Shimizu, Nobumichi Ono, Shuhei Coggon, Rosalind M. Shanks III, Wayne C. Lapham, Laura Elvert, Marcus Prieto-Mollar, Xavier Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe Inagaki, Fumio Teske, Andreas Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Ono, Shuehei Ono, Shuhei Sediment-covered basalt on the flanks of mid-ocean ridges constitutes most of Earth's oceanic crust, but the composition and metabolic function of its microbial ecosystem are largely unknown. By drilling into 3.5-million-year-old subseafloor basalt, we demonstrated the presence of methane- and sulfur-cycling microbes on the eastern flank of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. Depth horizons with functional genes indicative of methane-cycling and sulfate-reducing microorganisms are enriched in solid-phase sulfur and total organic carbon, host δ[superscript 13]C- and δ[superscript 34]S-isotopic values with a biological imprint, and show clear signs of microbial activity when incubated in the laboratory. Downcore changes in carbon and sulfur cycling show discrete geochemical intervals with chemoautotrophic δ[superscript 13]C signatures locally attenuated by heterotrophic metabolism. National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-OCE 0622949) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-OCE 1129631) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-OCE-0753126) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-ODP 0727175) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (NSF-STC for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations) European Commission (Marie-Curie Intra-European Fellowship (255135)) 2014-06-06T16:47:11Z 2014-06-06T16:47:11Z 2013-03 2012-08 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0036-8075 1095-9203 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87684 Lever, M. A., O. Rouxel, J. C. Alt, N. Shimizu, S. Ono, R. M. Coggon, W. C. Shanks, et al. “Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt.” Science 339, no. 6125 (March 15, 2013): 1305–1308. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1348-9584 en_US http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229240 Science Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Ono via Michael Noga |
| spellingShingle | Lever, Mark A. Rouxel, Olivier Alt, Jeffrey C. Shimizu, Nobumichi Ono, Shuhei Coggon, Rosalind M. Shanks III, Wayne C. Lapham, Laura Elvert, Marcus Prieto-Mollar, Xavier Hinrichs, Kai-Uwe Inagaki, Fumio Teske, Andreas Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title | Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title_full | Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title_fullStr | Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title_short | Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt |
| title_sort | evidence for microbial carbon and sulfur cycling in deeply buried ridge flank basalt |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87684 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1348-9584 |
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