TY - JOUR T1 - Evidence for Microbial Carbon and Sulfur Cycling in Deeply Buried Ridge Flank Basalt A1 - Lever,Mark A. A1 - Rouxel,Olivier A1 - Alt,Jeffrey C. A1 - Shimizu,Nobumichi A1 - Ono,Shuhei A1 - Coggon,Rosalind M. A1 - Shanks,Wayne C., Iii A1 - Lapham,Laura A1 - Elvert,Marcus A1 - Prieto-Mollar,Xavier A1 - Hinrichs,Kai-Uwe A1 - Inagaki,Fumio A1 - Teske,Andreas AD - Univ N Carolina, Dept Marine Sci, Chapel Hill, NC 27599 USA. AD - Aarhus Univ, Dept Biosci, Ctr Geomicrobiol, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. AD - Woods Hole Oceanog Inst, Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA. AD - IFREMER, Ctr Brest, F-29280 Plouzane, France. AD - Univ Michigan, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA. AD - MIT, Dept Earth Atmospher & Planetary Sci, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. AD - Univ London Imperial Coll Sci Technol & Med, Dept Earth Sci & Engn, London SW7 2AZ, England. AD - US Geol Survey, Denver, CO 80225 USA. AD - Univ Bremen, Dept Geosci, Organ Geochem Grp, D-28334 Bremen, Germany. AD - Univ Bremen, MARUM Ctr Marine Environm Sci, D-28334 Bremen, Germany. AD - Japan Agcy Marine Earth Sci & Technol, Kochi Inst Core Sample Res, Geomicrobiol Grp, Nanko Ku, Kochi 7838502, Japan. UR - https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1229240 DO - 10.1126/science.1229240 N2 - 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. Y1 - 2013/03 PB - Amer Assoc Advancement Science JF - Science SN - 0036-8075 VL - 339 IS - 6125 SP - 1305 EP - 1308 ID - 28767 ER -