Subsurface microbiology and biogeochemistry of a deep, cold-water carbonate mound from the Porcupine Seabight (IODP Expedition 307)

Webster, Gordon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9530-7835, Blazejak, Anna, Cragg, Barry Andrew, Schippers, Axel, Sass, Henrik ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8740-4224, Rinna, Joachim ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9358-8453, Tang, Xiaohong, Mathes, Falko ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2905-5190, Ferdelman, Timothy G., Fry, John Christopher, Weightman, Andrew John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6671-2209 and Parkes, Ronald John 2009. Subsurface microbiology and biogeochemistry of a deep, cold-water carbonate mound from the Porcupine Seabight (IODP Expedition 307). Environmental Microbiology 11 (1) , pp. 239-257. 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2008.01759.x

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Abstract

The Porcupine Seabight Challenger Mound is the first carbonate mound to be drilled (∼270 m) and analyzed in detail microbiologically and biogeochemically. Two mound sites and a non-mound Reference site were analyzed with a range of molecular techniques [catalyzed reporter deposition-fluorescence in situ hybridization (CARD-FISH), quantitative PCR (16S rRNA and functional genes, dsrA and mcrA), and 16S rRNA gene PCR-DGGE] to assess prokaryotic diversity, and this was compared with the distribution of total and culturable cell counts, radiotracer activity measurements and geochemistry. There was a significant and active prokaryotic community both within and beneath the carbonate mound. Although total cell numbers at certain depths were lower than the global average for other subseafloor sediments and prokaryotic activities were relatively low (iron and sulfate reduction, acetate oxidation, methanogenesis) they were significantly enhanced compared with the Reference site. In addition, there was some stimulation of prokaryotic activity in the deepest sediments (Miocene, > 10 Ma) including potential for anaerobic oxidation of methane activity below the mound base. Both Bacteria and Archaea were present, with neither dominant, and these were related to sequences commonly found in other subseafloor sediments. With an estimate of some 1600 mounds in the Porcupine Basin alone, carbonate mounds may represent a significant prokaryotic subseafloor habitat.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Biosciences Earth and Environmental Sciences
Subjects:	Q Science > QR Microbiology
Publisher:	Blackwell Science
ISSN:	1462-2912
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 22:32
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/8528

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