TY - JOUR
T1 - The dynamic influence of subsurface geological processes on the assembly and diversification of thermophilic microbial communities in continental hydrothermal systems
AU - Sims, Kenneth W.W.
AU - Messa, Cole M.
AU - Scott, Sean R.
AU - Parsekian, Andrew D.
AU - Miller, Andrew
AU - Role, Abraham L.
AU - Moloney, Timothy P.
AU - Shock, Everett L.
AU - Lowenstern, Jacob B.
AU - McCleskey, R. Blaine
AU - Charette, Matthew A.
AU - Carr, Bradley J.
AU - Pasquet, Sylvain
AU - Heasler, Henry
AU - Jaworowoski, Cheryl
AU - Holbrook, W. Steven
AU - Lindsay, Melody R.
AU - Colman, Daniel R.
AU - Boyd, Eric S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2023/12/1
Y1 - 2023/12/1
N2 - An accepted paradigm of hydrothermal systems is the process of phase separation, or boiling, of a deep, homogeneous hydrothermal fluid as it ascends through the subsurface resulting in gas rich and gas poor fluids. While phase separation helps to explain first-order patterns in the chemistry and biology of a hot spring's surficial expression, we know little about the subsurface architecture beneath “phase-separated” pools and the timescales over which phase separation processes occur. Essentially, we have a two-dimensional understanding of a four-dimensional process. By combining geophysical, geochemical, isotopic, and microbiological measurements of two adjacent phase-separated hot springs in Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, we provide a four-dimensional assessment of phase separation processes and their biological manifestation. We uniquely show that Yellowstone's hydrothermal waters originate from a deep sedimentary aquifer and that both meteoric recharge and shallow reactive transport processes are required to establish the geobiological feedbacks that drive bimodal distributions in the geochemical and microbial composition of hot springs. Specifically, over periods of tens of years, gas-enriched fluids containing volcanic sulfide mix with meteoric waters resulting in microbially-mediated production of sulfuric acid by thermoacidophilic Archaea in the near subsurface. In contrast, over periods of hundreds of years, anoxic residual liquid rises to the surface where it is infused with atmospheric gas fostering Archaea and Bacteria that are largely dependent on oxygen. As such, our results provide formative insight into the causative links between subsurface geological processes, the development of geochemical fluids, and the assembly and diversification of thermophilic microbial communities in hydrothermal systems.
AB - An accepted paradigm of hydrothermal systems is the process of phase separation, or boiling, of a deep, homogeneous hydrothermal fluid as it ascends through the subsurface resulting in gas rich and gas poor fluids. While phase separation helps to explain first-order patterns in the chemistry and biology of a hot spring's surficial expression, we know little about the subsurface architecture beneath “phase-separated” pools and the timescales over which phase separation processes occur. Essentially, we have a two-dimensional understanding of a four-dimensional process. By combining geophysical, geochemical, isotopic, and microbiological measurements of two adjacent phase-separated hot springs in Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, we provide a four-dimensional assessment of phase separation processes and their biological manifestation. We uniquely show that Yellowstone's hydrothermal waters originate from a deep sedimentary aquifer and that both meteoric recharge and shallow reactive transport processes are required to establish the geobiological feedbacks that drive bimodal distributions in the geochemical and microbial composition of hot springs. Specifically, over periods of tens of years, gas-enriched fluids containing volcanic sulfide mix with meteoric waters resulting in microbially-mediated production of sulfuric acid by thermoacidophilic Archaea in the near subsurface. In contrast, over periods of hundreds of years, anoxic residual liquid rises to the surface where it is infused with atmospheric gas fostering Archaea and Bacteria that are largely dependent on oxygen. As such, our results provide formative insight into the causative links between subsurface geological processes, the development of geochemical fluids, and the assembly and diversification of thermophilic microbial communities in hydrothermal systems.
KW - Hydrothermal Systems
KW - Near Surface Geophysics
KW - Phase Separation
KW - Radiogenic Isotopes
KW - Reactive Transport
KW - Thermophilic Microbial Communities
KW - Timescales of Water-Rock Interaction
KW - U- and Th-Decay Series
KW - Yellowstone
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U2 - 10.1016/j.gca.2023.10.021
DO - 10.1016/j.gca.2023.10.021
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85175481683
SN - 0016-7037
VL - 362
SP - 77
EP - 103
JO - Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
JF - Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
ER -