Start |Grid View | Author Index | View Uploaded Presentations | Meeting Information

GSA 2020 Connects Online

Paper No. 24-6
Presentation Time: 2:45 PM

A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY OF MICROBES AND MINERALS IN LAVA TUBES


BOWER, Dina M.1, MCADAM, Amy2, ACHILLES, Cherie N.3, FISHMAN, Chloe4, KNUDSON, Christine A.1, AREVALO, Ricardo5, MILLAN, Maeva6, WENG, Maggie4, JOHNSON, Sarah S.7, BLEACHER, Jacob E.8 and YOUNG, Kelsey E.9, (1)Department of Astronomy/CRESST/NASA GSFC, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD 20742, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 699.0, Greenbelt, MD 20771, (3)NASA GSFC, USRA, Greenbelt, MD 20771, (4)Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, (5)Department of Geology, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD 20742, (6)NASA GSFC, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, (7)Johnson Biosignatures Lab, Georgetown University, 3700 O St. NW, Washington, DC 20057, (8)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, (9)Planetary Geology Geophysics and Geochemistry Lab, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771

The interplay between microbes and minerals has been key in shaping terrestrial landscapes throughout geologic time. Lava tubes are fertile grounds for microbial communities, providing nutrient-rich substrates, moisture, and shelter. As the microbial communities grow and thrive, they induce chemical changes in their immediate environment resulting in mineralogical variations. Many alteration minerals involve microbial interactions and others are the direct result of chemical weathering of the host basalts, yet the distinction between abiotic and biotic alteration is not always evident. In order to establish distinctive signatures of biotic activity, our interdisciplinary team conducted field work and collected solid and liquid samples from a basaltic lava tube on the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. We characterized the host basalts, secondary mineral coatings/veneers, powdery precipitates, and seeping groundwater in sections of the tube exposed to sunlight and sections that remain dark using a suite of in situ and laboratory analytical techniques: Raman spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (pyro-GCMS), and metagenomic analysis. The powdery precipitates throughout the lava tube are composed of predominantly metastable sulfate minerals, many of which are associated with microbial communities. In addition, significant abundances, and diversities, of organic compounds present in many of the tube’s secondary mineral deposits may be related to the tube-hosted microbial communities. We will discuss the implications of these and other associations for understanding geobiological systems on Earth and applications for life detection in similar subterranean systems on other planetary bodies in the solar system.

Session No. 24

T203. New Advances in Geobiology
Monday, 26 October 2020: 1:30 PM-5:30 PM
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 52, No. 6
doi: 10.1130/abs/2020AM-358435
© Copyright 2020 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: T203. New Advances in Geobiology
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract >>