Collaborative Research: Banded Together: Modern water-microbe-mineral feedbacks in the deep Archean lithosphere

微生物生命不断地与人类和我们的环境接触。微生物生命、人类和我们的环境之间的相互作用基本上影响着现代日常生活的方方面面，从医疗条件的治疗到农业创新。这些相互作用表明，微生物生命可以在各种各样的条件下、在短时间尺度上以及在地球表面上取得多大的成功。然而，科学家们也有证据表明，微生物生命在长时间尺度和地下深处都很重要。在这个项目中，我们将研究微生物生命在艰难的环境中生存时所使用的策略，同时生活在地下深处。特别是，我们感兴趣的是，微生物废物产品是否可以为微生物的生长创造新的空间，为微生物的生命创造新的社区，还是让它们不可避免地死亡。根据我们的科学观察，我们将创建模型，帮助我们了解微生物生命是如何在地下工作的。我们的结果可能有助于理解微生物生命将如何影响能源提取过程，如水力压裂(水力压裂)，以及一些最糟糕的废物流的地下废物处理，如核材料。作为我们项目的一部分，我们将与大湖区社区和部落学院结成伙伴关系。这一伙伴关系将侧重于让科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域中代表性不足的群体参与进来。农村社区和部落学院是中学后培训的主要渠道，往往是该地区美洲原住民社区接受高等教育的垫脚石。我们将开发和实施一个由我们的团队在我们的现场连续两个夏天提供的实践暑期研讨会--“生命与地球的联系”。研讨会将提供一个体验式的学习机会，通过实地和实验室活动突出生命、地球和水的相互作用。参与者还将在正式和非正式的环境中与同行和科学家互动，以建立职业意识和专业网络。通过这一研究项目，我们试图发现微生物与深层地下物理和地球化学成分相互作用的机制。我们特别感兴趣的是了解微生物新陈代谢对裂隙岩石含水层系统的宜居性的潜在反馈。我们的总体方法是进行一项假设驱动的研究，将现场、实验室和建模组件整合在一起。我们的项目利用了一个合作科学团队的经验，该团队广泛借鉴了地球科学学科：特别是地质学、水文地质学、地球化学和微生物学。随着一项以遗留钻孔和存档岩心为中心的实地研究，我们将调查加拿大盾的新太古代裂隙岩含水层。通过这项工作，我们将确定：(1)支持或抑制微生物生长的地下水文地质和地球化学因素；(2)微生物通过群落相互作用和代谢创新对限制因素的适应；(3)微生物活动对地质环境和宜居性的正反馈或负反馈。现场和实验室数据流将通过开发和使用裂缝规模的反应运输模型来整合，并检验假设。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Microbial life is in constant contact with humans and our environment. Interactions between microbial life, humans, and our environment influence essentially every aspect of daily modern life, from the treatment of medical conditions to agricultural innovations. These interactions show how successful microbial life can be under a wide variety of conditions, on short time scales, and at the Earth's surface. However, scientists also have evidence that microbial life is important over long time scales and deep underground. In this project we will investigate the strategies that microbial life uses to survive under difficult circumstances while living deep underground. In particular, we are interested in understanding whether microbial waste products can create new space for growth, new neighborhoods for microbial life, or condemn them to inevitable death. From our scientific observations, we will create models that will help us understand how microbial life works underground. Our results could be useful in understanding how microbial life will affect energy extraction processes, such as hydrologic fracturing ('fracking'), and underground waste disposal for some of our worst waste streams, such as nuclear materials. As part of our project, we will form a partnership with Community and Tribal Colleges of the Great Lakes Region. This partnership will focus on engaging underrepresented groups in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Rural Community and Tribal Colleges are primary conduits for post-secondary training and often serve as stepping stones to higher education in Native American communities of the region. We will develop and implement a hands-on summer workshop, 'The Life-Earth Connection', to be offered by our team during two consecutive summers at our field site. The workshops will provide an experiential learning opportunity that highlights the interactions of life, earth, and water through field and laboratory activities. Participants will also interact with peers and scientists in formal and informal settings to build career awareness and a professional network. Through this research project, we seek to discover the mechanisms by which microorganisms interact with physical and geochemical components of the deep subsurface. We are specifically interested in understanding the potential feedbacks that microbial metabolism has on the habitability of fractured-rock aquifer systems. Our overall approach is to conduct a hypothesis-driven study with integrated field-, laboratory-, and modeling components. Our project leverages the experience of a collaborative scientific team that draws broadly on Earth Science disciplines: specifically, geology, hydrogeology, geochemistry, and microbiology. With a field study centered on legacy boreholes and archived cores, we will investigate Neoarchean fractured-rock aquifers of the Canadian Shield. Through this work, we will define: (1) subsurface hydrogeological and geochemical factors that support or inhibit microbial growth; (2) microbial adaptation to limiting factors through community interactions and metabolic innovation; and (3) the positive or negative feedbacks of microbial activity on the geogenic milieu and habitability. Field and laboratory data streams will be integrated, and hypotheses tested, through the development and use of a fracture-scale reactive-transport model.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.