Geomicrobiology

Geomicrobiology is the scientific field at the intersection of geology and microbiology and is a major subfield of geobiology. It concerns the role of microbes on geological and geochemical processes and effects of minerals and metals to microbial growth, activity and survival. Such interactions occur in the geosphere (rocks, minerals, soils, and sediments), the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. Geomicrobiology studies microorganisms that are driving the Earth's biogeochemical cycles, mediating mineral precipitation and dissolution, and sorbing and concentrating metals. The applications include for example bioremediation, mining, climate change mitigation and public drinking water supplies. Microorganisms are known to impact aquifers by modifying their rates of dissolution. In the karstic Edwards Aquifer, microbes colonizing the aquifer surfaces enhance the dissolution rates of the host rock. In the oceanic crustal aquifer, the largest aquifer on Earth, microbial communities can impact ocean productivity, sea water chemistry as well as geochemical cycling throughout the geosphere. The mineral make-up of the rocks affects the composition and abundance of these subseafloor microbial communities present. Through bioremediation some microbes can aid in decontaminating freshwater resources in aquifers contaminated by waste products. biomineralization Some bacteria use metal ions as their energy source. They convert (or chemically reduce) the dissolved metal ions from one electrical state to another. This reduction releases energy for the bacteria's use, and, as a side product, serves to concentrate the metals into what ultimately become ore deposits. Biohydrometallurgy or in situ mining is where low-grade ores may be attacked by well-studied microbial processes under controlled conditions to extract metals. Certain iron, copper, uranium and even gold ores are thought to have formed as the result of microbe action. Subsurface environments, like aquifers, are attractive locations when selecting repositories for nuclear waste, carbon dioxide (See carbon sequestration), or as artificial reservoirs for natural gas.

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