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Fossilized Life in Subseafloor Ultramafic Rocks
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Geological Sciences.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Geological Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1291-5529
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Number of Authors: 52018 (English)In: Geomicrobiology Journal, ISSN 0149-0451, E-ISSN 1521-0529, Vol. 35, no 6, p. 460-467Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Ultramafic rocks are hypothesized to support a subseafloor hydrogen-driven biosphere because of extensive production of bioavailable energy sources like H-2 or CH4 from fluid-rock interactions. Hence, the apparent lack of microbial remains in subseafloor ultramafic rocks, in contrast to their frequent observation in subseafloor basalts, is somewhat of a paradox. Here we report fossilized microbial remains in aragonite veins in ultramafic rocks from the 15 degrees 20N Fracture Zone area on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), collected during Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 209. The microbial remains consist of filamentous structures associated with biofilms. The young age (<1 Myr) and absence of diagenesis result in fossilized microbial communities with a pristine composition characterized by carbonaceous matter (CM) and the enrichment in trace elements such as Ni, Co, Mo and Mn. Our study confirms the presence of the hypothesized deep subseafloor biosphere hosted in ultramafic rocks. We further show that host rock composition may influence the microbial elemental composition, which is recorded during the fossilization.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. Vol. 35, no 6, p. 460-467
Keywords [en]
Ultra mafic rocks, deep biosphere, fossilized microorganisms, ocean crust
National Category
Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-156706DOI: 10.1080/01490451.2017.1370517ISI: 000431551400002OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-156706DiVA, id: diva2:1210508
Available from: 2018-05-28 Created: 2018-05-28 Last updated: 2025-02-07Bibliographically approved

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Broman, CurtNeubeck, Anna

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