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Science 3 January 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5603, pp. 120 - 123
DOI: 10.1126/science.1075653
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Reports
Fluids from Aging Ocean Crust That Support Microbial Life
James P. Cowen,1*
Stephen J. Giovannoni,2
Fabien Kenig,3
H. Paul Johnson,4
David Butterfield,5
Michael S. Rappé,2
Michael Hutnak,4
Phyllis Lam1
Little is known about the potential for life in the
vast, low-temperature (<100°C) reservoir of fluids within mid-ocean
ridge flank and ocean basin crust. Recently, an overpressured
300-meter-deep borehole was fitted with an experimental seal (CORK)
delivering crustal fluids to the sea floor for discrete and
large-volume sampling and characterization. Results demonstrate that
the 65°C fluids from 3.5-million-year-old ocean crust support
microbial growth. Ribosomal RNA gene sequence data indicate the
presence of diverse Bacteria and Archaea, including gene clones of
varying degrees of relatedness to known nitrate reducers (with ammonia production), thermophilic sulfate reducers, and thermophilic
fermentative heterotrophs, all consistent with fluid chemistry.
1 Department of Oceanography, School of Ocean
and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
96822, USA.
2 Department of Microbiology, Oregon
State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
3 Earth
and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago,
IL 60607, USA.
4 School of Oceanography, Box 357940,
5 Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere
and Oceans, Box 357941, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
jcowen{at}soest.hawaii.edu
Present address: Earth Sciences Department, University
of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
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