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

0221905Cady一项赠款用于分析保存在美国黄石国家公园硅质热液矿床中的生物复杂性指标的结构和化学保真度。古热液矿床中嗜热微生物的生物复杂性指标包括有机和无机化学化石(如碳和硫同位素、生物矿物、微量元素异常)、碳质微化石和受微生物影响的沉积结构(叠层石、微生物岩、生物礁)。这些生物复杂性指标的结构和化学保真度取决于微生物可获得的碳库的大小。这项工作意义重大，因为从古代硅质热液沉积中收集的生物复杂性信息将提供有关地球上最早的生命的细节。通过对黄石温泉生物复杂性指标的分析，为研究细菌在硅质矿床中的保存提供了一种手段。在这项为期一年的研究期间获得的数据集还为解释指示细菌和古细菌混合嗜热群落的生物复杂性信息如何保存在乌松火山口的硅质热液沉积物中建立了基线。分子系统发育分析表明，由细菌和古细菌组成的高温微生物群落是古代热液生态系统更合适的同源物。通过量化碳在活性二氧化硅沉积温泉的各种子系统(流体和气体、微生物群落和矿物沉积)中的循环，这项研究解决了环境研究的核心挑战之一：了解组成地球自然系统的物理、化学、地质、水文和生物过程如何在功能上相互关联。

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.