Start |Author Index | View Uploaded Presentations | Meeting Information

2015 GSA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (1-4 November 2015)

Paper No. 288-21
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM

δ15N OF BIOVERMICULATIONS IN A SULFIDIC CAVE SYSTEM AT CUEVA DE VILLA LUZ, TABASCO, MEXICO


FUENTES, Javier A., Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology (CRESST), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742; NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, STERN, Jennifer C., NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, ROSALES-LAGARDE, Laura, Centro del Agua para América Latina y el Caribe, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Av. Eugenio Garza Sada Sur No. 2501, Monterrey, 64849, Mexico, BOSTON, Penelope J., Dept. of Earth and Environmental Science, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM 87801; National Cave and Karst Research Institute, Carlsbad, NM 88822 and GOMEZ-CRUZ, Rodolfo, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, División Académica de Ciencias Biológicas, Autopista Villahermosa-Cárdenas, Bósque de Saloya, Villahermosa, 86025, Mexico, javier.a.fuentes@nasa.gov

The Cueva de Villa Luz Cave system, located in the southern State of Tabasco, Mexico, is formed by active sulfuric acid speleogenesis. In this form of karstification, hydrogen sulfide volatilizes from sulfidic groundwaters, followed by oxidization to sulfuric acid, which reacts with carbonate to form gypsum. The presence of hydrogen sulfide in these caves is an energy source for chemolithoautotrophy and supports a diverse assemblage of microbial communities, including biovermiculations that coat the surfaces of the cave. Biovermiculations are bacterial mats or films with complex geometric forms similar in morphology to clay vermiculations but lacking the clay fractions. Sulfidic caves, in particular, support rapid growth of this hieroglyphics-like biopatterning on cave walls and ceilings. Similar biovermiculations in other sulfidic cave systems such as the Frasassi Cave System in Italy (Jones et al. 2008) and Movile Cave in Romania (Sarbu et al. 1996) were shown to have depleted nitrogen isotopic compositions (δ15N), possibly due to assimilation of volatilized ammonia from cave streams. To test whether biovermiculations in Cueva de Villa Luz exhibited similar 15N depletion, samples of cave wall biovermiculations were collected for δ13C and δ15N analysis at the Planetary Environments Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD. δ13C and δ15N analyses were performed using a Costech 4010 ECS Elemental Analyzer coupled to a Thermo Scientific Delta V Plus Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (EA-IRMS). The δ13C and δ15N values of the biovermiculations (δ13C = -29‰ to -24‰, and δ15N = -2‰ to 4‰) suggest that the nitrogen source for these communities is from atmospheric nitrogen and not from any ammonia present in the cave system.
  1. Sarbu, S. M., Kane, T. C., & Kinkle, B. K. (1996). A chemoautotrophically based cave ecosystem. Science, 272(5270), 1953.
  2. Jones, D. S., Lyon, E. H., & Macalady, J. L. (2008). Geomicrobiology of biovermiculations from the Frasassi cave system, Italy. Journal of Cave and Karst Studies, 70(2), 78-93.

Session No. 288--Booth# 21

Environmental Geoscience (Posters)
Wednesday, 4 November 2015: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall (Baltimore Convention Center)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 7, p.726
© Copyright 2015 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.
Back to: Environmental Geoscience (Posters)
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>