Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 24 December 2004:
Vol. 306. no. 5705, pp. 2216 - 2221
DOI: 10.1126/science.1101155
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research Articles

Distributions of Microbial Activities in Deep Subseafloor Sediments

Steven D'Hondt,1* Bo Barker Jørgensen,1 D. Jay Miller,1 Anja Batzke,2 Ruth Blake,1 Barry A. Cragg,1 Heribert Cypionka,1 Gerald R. Dickens,1 Timothy Ferdelman,1 Kai-Uwe Hinrichs,1 Nils G. Holm,1 Richard Mitterer,1 Arthur Spivack,1 Guizhi Wang,3 Barbara Bekins,1 Bert Engelen,2 Kathryn Ford,1 Glen Gettemy,1 Scott D. Rutherford,4 Henrik Sass,2 C. Gregory Skilbeck,1 Ivano W. Aiello,1 Gilles Guèrin,1 Christopher H. House,1 Fumio Inagaki,1 Patrick Meister,1 Thomas Naehr,1 Sachiko Niitsuma,1 R. John Parkes,1 Axel Schippers,1 David C. Smith,1 Andreas Teske,1 Juergen Wiegel,1 Christian Naranjo Padilla,1 Juana Luz Solis Acosta1

Diverse microbial communities and numerous energy-yielding activities occur in deeply buried sediments of the eastern Pacific Ocean. Distributions of metabolic activities often deviate from the standard model. Rates of activities, cell concentrations, and populations of cultured bacteria vary consistently from one subseafloor environment to another. Net rates of major activities principally rely on electron acceptors and electron donors from the photosynthetic surface world. At open-ocean sites, nitrate and oxygen are supplied to the deepest sedimentary communities through the underlying basaltic aquifer. In turn, these sedimentary communities may supply dissolved electron donors and nutrients to the underlying crustal biosphere.

1 Ocean Drilling Program Leg 201 Shipboard Scientific Party.
2 Institut für Chemie und Biologie des Meeres, Universität Oldenburg, D-26111 Oldenburg, Germany.
3 University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA.
4 Department of Environmental Science, Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI 02809, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed at NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA. E-mail: dhondt{at}gso.uri.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Dehalogenation Activities and Distribution of Reductive Dehalogenase Homologous Genes in Marine Subsurface Sediments.
T. Futagami, Y. Morono, T. Terada, A. H. Kaksonen, and F. Inagaki (2009)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 75, 6905-6909
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sulfate-reducing ammonium oxidation: A thermodynamically feasible metabolic pathway in subseafloor sediment.
H. N. Schrum, A. J. Spivack, M. Kastner, and S. D'Hondt (2009)
Geology 37, 939-942
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Subseafloor sedimentary life in the South Pacific Gyre.
S. D'Hondt, A. J. Spivack, R. Pockalny, T. G. Ferdelman, J. P. Fischer, J. Kallmeyer, L. J. Abrams, D. C. Smith, D. Graham, F. Hasiuk, et al. (2009)
PNAS 106, 11651-11656
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Manganese- and Iron-Dependent Marine Methane Oxidation.
E. J. Beal, C. H. House, and V. J. Orphan (2009)
Science 325, 184-187
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The stability of methane hydrate intercalates of montmorillonite and nontronite: Implications for carbon storage in ocean-floor environments.
A.F. K. van Groos and S. Guggenheim (2009)
American Mineralogist 94, 372-379
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Metagenomic signatures of the Peru Margin subseafloor biosphere show a genetically distinct environment.
J. F. Biddle, S. Fitz-Gibbon, S. C. Schuster, J. E. Brenchley, and C. H. House (2008)
PNAS 105, 10583-10588
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Deep Drilling into the Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure.
G. S. Gohn, C. Koeberl, K. G. Miller, W. U. Reimold, J. V. Browning, C. S. Cockell, J. W. Horton Jr., T. Kenkmann, A. A. Kulpecz, D. S. Powars, et al. (2008)
Science 320, 1740-1745
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dissolution of biogenic ooze over basement edifices in the equatorial Pacific with implications for hydrothermal ventilation of the oceanic crust.
B. A. Bekins, A. J. Spivack, E. E. Davis, and L. A. Mayer (2007)
Geology 35, 679-682
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Long-term sustainability of a high-energy, low-diversity crustal biome..
L.-H. Lin, P.-L. Wang, D. Rumble, J. Lippmann-Pipke, E. Boice, L. M. Pratt, B. S. Lollar, E. L. Brodie, T. C. Hazen, G. L. Andersen, et al. (2006)
Science 314, 479-482
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biological formation of ethane and propane in the deep marine subsurface.
K.-U. Hinrichs, J. M. Hayes, W. Bach, A. J. Spivack, L. R. Hmelo, N. G. Holm, C. G. Johnson, and S. P. Sylva (2006)
PNAS 103, 14684-14689
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microbial Community in Black Rust Exposed to Hot Ridge Flank Crustal Fluids.
S. Nakagawa, F. Inagaki, Y. Suzuki, B. O. Steinsbu, M. A. Lever, K. Takai, B. Engelen, Y. Sako, C. G. Wheat, K. Horikoshi, et al. (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 6789-6799
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stratified communities of active archaea in deep marine subsurface sediments..
K. B. Sorensen and A. Teske (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 4596-4603
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Specific Bacterial, Archaeal, and Eukaryotic Communities in Tidal-Flat Sediments along a Vertical Profile of Several Meters.
R. Wilms, H. Sass, B. Kopke, J. Koster, H. Cypionka, and B. Engelen (2006)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 72, 2756-2764
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Heterotrophic Archaea dominate sedimentary subsurface ecosystems off Peru.
J. F. Biddle, J. S. Lipp, M. A. Lever, K. G. Lloyd, K. B. Sorensen, R. Anderson, H. F. Fredricks, M. Elvert, T. J. Kelly, D. P. Schrag, et al. (2006)
PNAS 103, 3846-3851
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Biogeographical distribution and diversity of microbes in methane hydrate-bearing deep marine sediments on the Pacific Ocean Margin.
F. Inagaki, T. Nunoura, S. Nakagawa, A. Teske, M. Lever, A. Lauer, M. Suzuki, K. Takai, M. Delwiche, F. S. Colwell, et al. (2006)
PNAS 103, 2815-2820
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Desulfotomaculum and Methanobacterium spp. Dominate a 4- to 5-Kilometer-Deep Fault.
D. P. Moser, T. M. Gihring, F. J. Brockman, J. K. Fredrickson, D. L. Balkwill, M. E. Dollhopf, B. S. Lollar, L. M. Pratt, E. Boice, G. Southam, et al. (2005)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 71, 8773-8783
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)