Biogeochemical signals from deep microbial life in terrestrial crust

PLoS One. 2014 Dec 17;9(12):e113063. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0113063. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

In contrast to the deep subseafloor biosphere, a volumetrically vast and stable habitat for microbial life in the terrestrial crust remains poorly explored. For the long-term sustainability of a crustal biome, high-energy fluxes derived from hydrothermal circulation and water radiolysis in uranium-enriched rocks are seemingly essential. However, the crustal habitability depending on a low supply of energy is unknown. We present multi-isotopic evidence of microbially mediated sulfate reduction in a granitic aquifer, a representative of the terrestrial crust habitat. Deep meteoric groundwater was collected from underground boreholes drilled into Cretaceous Toki granite (central Japan). A large sulfur isotopic fractionation of 20-60‰ diagnostic to microbial sulfate reduction is associated with the investigated groundwater containing sulfate below 0.2 mM. In contrast, a small carbon isotopic fractionation (<30‰) is not indicative of methanogenesis. Except for 2011, the concentrations of H2 ranged mostly from 1 to 5 nM, which is also consistent with an aquifer where a terminal electron accepting process is dominantly controlled by ongoing sulfate reduction. High isotopic ratios of mantle-derived 3He relative to radiogenic 4He in groundwater and the flux of H2 along adjacent faults suggest that, in addition to low concentrations of organic matter (<70 µM), H2 from deeper sources might partly fuel metabolic activities. Our results demonstrate that the deep biosphere in the terrestrial crust is metabolically active and playing a crucial role in the formation of reducing groundwater even under low-energy fluxes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ecosystem*
  • Energy Metabolism
  • Geologic Sediments / chemistry
  • Geologic Sediments / microbiology
  • Groundwater / chemistry
  • Groundwater / microbiology
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Japan
  • Methane / chemistry
  • Methane / metabolism
  • Microbiology*
  • Oceans and Seas*
  • Silicon Dioxide / chemistry
  • Silicon Dioxide / metabolism
  • Sulfates / chemistry
  • Sulfates / metabolism
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Sulfates
  • granite
  • Silicon Dioxide
  • Methane

Grants and funding

The main part of this research project has been conducted as the regulatory supporting research funded by the Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (Secretariat of NRA), Japan. The funders supervised study design and approved this work for publication.