BE/CBC: Geomicrobiological Interactions and Carbon Flow in Extreme Thermal Springs: Kamchatka, Russia

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0221905CadyA grant has been awarded to analyze the structural and chemical fidelity of biocomplexity indicators preserved in siliceous hydrothermal deposits in Yellowstone National Park, USA. Biocomplexity indicators characteristic of thermophilic microbes in ancient hydrothermal mineral deposits include organic and inorganic chemical fossils (e.g., carbon and sulfur isotopes, biominerals, trace element anomalies), carbonaceous microfossils, and microbially influenced sedimentary structures (stromatolites, microbialites, biofabrics). The structural and chemical fidelity of these biocomplexity indicators depend on the size of carbon reservoirs available to the microbes. This work is significant in that biocomplexity information gleaned from ancient siliceous hydrothermal deposits will provide details regarding the earliest life on Earth. This study provides a framework for analyzing surficial and subsurface hydrothermal silica deposits in Uzon Caldera, Kamchatka, Russia.The analysis of biocomplexity indicators in Yellowstone hot springs provides a means to study the preservation of Bacteria in silica deposits. The dataset acquired during this one-year study also establishes a baseline for interpreting how biocomplexity information indicative of mixed Bacterial and Archaeal thermophilic communities is preserved in the siliceous hydrothermal deposits of Uzon Caldera. Molecular phylogenetic analysis suggests that high-temperature microbial communities comprised of Bacteria and Archaea are more appropriate homologs for ancient hydrothermal ecosystems. By quantifying how carbon cycles through the various subsystems (fluids and gases, microbial communities, and mineral deposits) of active silica-depositing hot springs, this research addresses one of the central challenges of environmental research: understanding how the physical, chemical, geological, hydrological and biological processes that comprise the Earth's natural systems are functionally interrelated.