Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere.

Marine Subsurface Microbial Community Shifts Across a Hydrothermal Gradient in Okinawa Trough Sediments

Sediments within the Okinawa back-arc basin overlay a subsurface hydrothermal network, creating intense temperature gradients with sediment depth and potential limits for microbial diversity. We investigated taxonomic changes across 45 m of recovered core with a temperature gradient of 3°C/m from the dynamic Iheya North Hydrothermal System. The interval transitions sharply from low-temperature ...

Bacterial communities associated with subsurface geochemical processes in continental serpentinite springs.

Reactions associated with the geochemical process of serpentinization can generate copious quantities of hydrogen and low-molecular-weight organic carbon compounds, which may provide energy and nutrients to sustain subsurface microbial communities independently of the photosynthetically supported surface biosphere. Previous microbial ecology studies have tested this hypothesis in deep sea hydro...

Is the Genetic Landscape of the Deep Subsurface Biosphere Affected by Viruses?

Viruses are powerful manipulators of microbial diversity, biogeochemistry, and evolution in the marine environment. Viruses can directly influence the genetic capabilities and the fitness of their hosts through the use of fitness factors and through horizontal gene transfer. However, the impact of viruses on microbial ecology and evolution is often overlooked in studies of the deep subsurface b...

Energetic Limitations Of Thermophilic Methanogens And Thiosulfate Reducers In The Subsurface Biosphere At Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents

Release of bound aromatic hydrocarbons from late Archean and Mesoproterozoic kerogens via hydropyrolysis

Hydrogen-lean kerogens (atomic H/C 0.4) isolated from the 2.5-billion-year-old (Ga) Mt. McRae Shale, Hamersley Group, at Tom Price, Western Australia, were studied via hydropyrolysis, a continuous-flow technique that degrades organic matter in a stream of high-pressure hydrogen assisted by a dispersed Mo catalyst. The hydropyrolysates yielded predominantly phenanthrene and pyrene, and higher po...