Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001e%26psl.194...31t&link_type=abstract
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 194, Issue 1-2, p. 31-37.
Other
23
Scientific paper
Electron microscopy and biomolecular methods have been used to describe and identify microbial communities inhabiting the glassy margins of ocean floor basalts. The investigated samples were collected from a neovolcanic ridge and from older, sediment-covered lava flows in the rift valley of the Knipovich Ridge at a water depth around 3500 m and an ambient seawater temperature of -0.7°C. Successive stages from incipient microbial colonisation, to well-developed biofilms occur on fracture surfaces in the glassy margins. Observed microbial morphologies are various filamentous, coccoidal, oval, rod-shaped and stalked forms. Etch marks in the fresh glass, with form and size resembling the attached microbes, are common. Precipitation of alteration products around microbes has developed hollow subspherical and filamentous structures. These precipitates are often enriched in Fe and Mn. The presence of branching and twisted stalks that resemble those of the iron-oxidising Gallionella, indicate that reduced iron may be utilised in an energy metabolic process. Analysis of 16S-rRNA gene sequences from microbes present in the rock samples, show that the bacterial population inhabiting these samples cluster within the γ- and ɛ-Proteobacteria and the Cytophaga/Flexibacter/Bacteroides subdivision of the Bacteria, while the Archaea all belong to the Crenarchaeota kingdom. This microbial population appears to be characteristic for the rock and their closest relatives have previously been reported from cold marine waters in the Arctic and Antarctic, deep-sea sediments and hydrothermal environments.
Daae F. L.
Keldysh-98 Scientific Party
Pedersen Rolf-Birger
Thorseth Ingunn H.
Torsvik Trond
No associations
LandOfFree
Diversity of life in ocean floor basalt does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Diversity of life in ocean floor basalt, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Diversity of life in ocean floor basalt will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1103022