Collaborative research: Banded together: modern water-microbe-mineral feedbacks in the deep Archean lithosphere

微生物生命与人类和我们的环境不断接触。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日常现代生活的方方面面，从医疗条件的治疗到农业创新。这些相互作用表明，微生物在各种各样的条件下，在短时间尺度上，在地球表面是多么成功。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是重要的。在这个项目中，我们将研究生活在地下深处的微生物在困难环境下生存的策略。特别是，我们感兴趣的是了解微生物废物是否可以为微生物生命创造新的生长空间，新的社区，还是谴责它们不可避免的死亡。根据我们的科学观察，我们将建立模型，帮助我们了解微生物在地下的生活方式。我们的研究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”），以及对一些最严重的废物流（如核材料）的地下废物处理。作为我们项目的一部分，我们将与大湖地区的社区和部落学院建立伙伴关系。这一伙伴关系将侧重于吸引科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）领域代表性不足的群体。农村社区和部落学院是高等教育的主要渠道，通常是该地区印第安人社区接受高等教育的垫脚石。我们将开发和实施一个实践的夏季研讨会，“生命与地球的联系”，由我们的团队在我们的现场连续两个夏天提供。工作坊将提供一个体验式的学习机会，通过实地和实验室活动强调生命、地球和水之间的相互作用。参与者还将在正式和非正式环境中与同行和科学家互动，以建立职业意识和专业网络。通过这个研究项目，我们试图发现微生物与地下深处的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代谢对岩缝含水层系统可居住性的潜在反馈。我们的总体方法是进行假设驱动的研究，整合现场、实验室和建模组件。我们的项目利用了一个协作科学团队的经验，广泛地借鉴了地球科学学科：具体来说，地质学、水文地质学、地球化学和微生物学。通过对传统钻孔和存档岩心的实地研究，我们将对加拿大地盾的新太古代裂缝岩含水层进行研究。通过这项工作，我们将定义：(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子的适应；(3)微生物活动对地质环境和宜居性的正负反馈。通过开发和使用裂缝尺度反应输运模型，现场和实验室数据流将被整合，并对假设进行测试。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.