Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt
| Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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| Date | 2013-03 | ||||||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Author(s) | Lever Mark A.1, 2, Rouxel Olivier 3, 4, Alt Jeffrey C.5, Shimizu Nobumichi3, Ono Shuhei6, Coggon Rosalind M.7, Shanks Wayne C., Iii8, Lapham Laura2, Elvert Marcus9, 10, Prieto-Mollar Xavier9, 10, Hinrichs Kai-Uwe9, 10, Inagaki Fumio11, Teske Andreas1 |
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| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ N Carolina, Dept Marine Sci, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA. 2 : Aarhus Univ, Dept Biosci, Ctr Geomicrobiol, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. 3 : Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA. 4 : IFREMER, Ctr Brest, F-29280 Plouzane, France. 5 : Univ Michigan, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA. 6 : MIT, Dept Earth Atmospher & Planetary Sci, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. 7 : Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Dept Earth Sci & Engn, London SW7 2AZ, England. 8 : US Geol Survey, Denver, CO 80225 USA. 9 : Univ Bremen, Dept Geosci, Organ Geochem Grp, D-28334 Bremen, Germany. 10 : Univ Bremen, MARUM Ctr Marine Environm Sci, D-28334 Bremen, Germany. 11 : Japan Agcy Marine Earth Sci & Technol, Kochi Inst Core Sample Res, Geomicrobiol Grp, Nanko Ku, Kochi 7838502, Japan. |
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| Source | Science (0036-8075) (Amer Assoc Advancement Science), 2013-03 , Vol. 339 , N. 6125 , P. 1305-1308 | ||||||||||||
| DOI | 10.1126/science.1229240 | ||||||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 143 | ||||||||||||
| Abstract | 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 delta C-13- and delta S-34-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 delta C-13 signatures locally attenuated by heterotrophic metabolism. | ||||||||||||
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