Subsurface geomicrobiology in a Mars terrestrial analogue, Río Tinto (SW, Spain)

Details Subsurface geomicrobiology in a Mars terrestrial analogue, Río Tinto (SW, Spain) Subsurface geomicrobiology in a Mars terrestrial analogue, Río Tinto (SW, Spain)

Sep 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..906a&link_type=abstract

European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a

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Since its discovery, only few years ago, subsurface geomicrobiology is a matter of growing interest [1]. From a fundamental point of view, it seeks to determine whether life can be sustained in the absence of radiation. From an astrobiological point of view, it is an interesting model for life in other planetary bodies, e.g., Mars, as well as early life on Earth. Río Tinto is an unusual extreme acidic environment due to its size (around 100 km), constant acidic pH (mean pH 2.3), high concentrations of heavy metals and high level of microbial diversity [2]. Río Tinto rises in the core of the Iberian Pyritic Belt, one of the biggest sulfidic ore deposits in the world [3]. Today it is well stablished that the extreme characteristics of Río Tinto are not due to acid mine drainage from mining activity, as has been suggested in the past. To explore the hypothesis that a continuous underground reactor of chemolithotrophic microorganisms thriving in the rich sulfidic minerals of the Iberian Pyritic Belt is responsible for the extreme conditions found in the system, a drilling project has been developed to detect evidence of subsurface microbial activity and potential resources to support these microbial communities in situ (MARTE project) [4]. Here we report a search for subsurface life in volcanically hosted massive sulfidic deposits from the Iberian Pyritic Belt. Aseptic core samples were obtained within and down-gradient from the massive sulfide deposits and formation water was sampled within the resulting bore holes. Microbial activity was detected in un-contaminated samples by culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. Aerobic iron- and sulfide- oxidizing bacteria, and anaerobic denitrifying thiosulfate-oxidizing bacteria, sulfate reducing bacteria and methanogenic archaea have been identified. Potential energy fluxes detected in the system include oxidation of reduced iron and sulfur, or hydrogen gas coupled to nitrite, sulfate, ferric iron, inorganic carbon or transient oxygen. These results suggest that multiple energy sources are available from sulfide-mineral weathering to support microbial metabolism, even in the absence of atmospheric oxygen. [1] Stevens, T.O and McKinley, J.P. (1995) Scienc,, 270, 450-454. [2] Amis, R. et al. (2007) Planet Space Sci, 55, 370- 381. [3] Fernández-Remolar, D. et al. (2005) Earth Planet Sci Lett, 240, 149-167. [4] Amils, R. et al. (2008) Microbiology of Extreme Soils, 205-223.

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