Deep microbial proliferation at the basalt interface in 33.5-104 million-year-old oceanic crust.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Suzuki Y
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7118141 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Deep microbial proliferation at the basalt interface in 33.5-104 million-year-old oceanic crust.
Suzuki Yohey Y Yamashita Seiya S Kouduka Mariko M Ao Yutaro Y Mukai Hiroki H Mitsunobu Satoshi S Kagi Hiroyuki H D'Hondt Steven S Inagaki Fumio F Morono Yuki Y Hoshino Tatsuhiko T Tomioka Naotaka N Ito Motoo M
Communications biology 20200402 1
The upper oceanic crust is mainly composed of basaltic lava that constitutes one of the largest habitable zones on Earth. However, the nature of deep microbial life in oceanic crust remains poorly understood, especially where old cold basaltic rock interacts with seawater beneath sediment. Here we show that microbial cells are densely concentrated in Fe-rich smectite on fracture surfaces and veins in 33.5- and 104-million-year-old (Ma) subseafloor basaltic rock. The Fe-rich smectite is locally e ...[more]
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