The deep biosphere of the subseafloor crust is believed to contain a significant part of Earth's biomass, but because of the difficulties of directly observing the living organisms, its composition and ecology are poorly known. We report here a consortium of fossilized prokaryotic and eukaryotic micro-organisms, occupying cavities in deep-drilled vesicular basalt from the Emperor Seamounts, Pacific Ocean, 67.5 m below seafloor (mbsf). Fungal hyphae provide the framework on which prokaryote-like organisms are suspended like cobwebs and iron-oxidizing bacteria form microstromatolites (Frutexites). The spatial inter-relationships show that the organisms were living at the same time in an integrated fashion, suggesting symbiotic interdependence. The community is contemporaneous with secondary mineralizations of calcite partly filling the cavities. The fungal hyphae frequently extend into the calcite, indicating that they were able to bore into the substrate through mineral dissolution. A symbiotic relationship with chemoautotrophs, as inferred for the observed consortium, may be a pre-requisite for the eukaryotic colonization of crustal rocks. Fossils thus open a window to the extant as well as the ancient deep biosphere.

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Precipitation of exceptionally 13C-depleted authigenic carbonate is a result of, and thus a tracer for, sulphate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation, particularly in marine sediments. Although these carbonates typically are less depleted in 13C than in the source methane, because of incorporation of C also from other sources, they are far more depleted in 13C (δ13C as light as −69‰ V-PDB) than in carbonates formed where no methane is involved. Here we show that oxidation of biogenic methane in carbon-poor deep groundwater in fractured granitoid rocks has resulted in fracture-wall precipitation of the most extremely 13C-depleted carbonates ever reported, δ13C down to −125‰ V-PDB. A microbial consortium of sulphate reducers and methane oxidizers has been involved, as revealed by biomarker signatures in the carbonates and S-isotope compositions of co-genetic sulphide. Methane formed at shallow depths has been oxidized at several hundred metres depth at the transition to a deep-seated sulphate-rich saline water. This process is so far an unrecognized terrestrial sink of methane.

The Northern Norrbotten Ore Province in northernmost Sweden includes the type localities for Kirunatype apatite iron deposits and has been the focus for intense exploration and research related to Fe oxide-Cu-Au mineralisation during the last decades. Several different types of Fe-oxide and Cu-Au±Fe oxide mineralisation occur in the region and include: stratiform Cu±Zn±Pb±Fe oxide type, iron formations (including BIF´s), Kirunatype apatite iron ore, and epigenetic Cu±Au±Fe oxide type which may be further subdivided into different styles of mineralisation, some of them with typical IOCG (Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold) characteristics. Generally, the formation of Fe oxide±Cu±Au mineralisation is directly or indirectly dated between ~2.1 and 1.75 Ga, thus spanning about 350 m.y. of geological evolution.The current paper will present in more detail the characteristics of certain key deposits, and aims to put the global concepts of Fe-oxide Cu-Au mineralisations into a regional context. The focus will be on iron deposits and various types of deposits containing Fe-oxides and Cu-sulphides in different proportions which generally have some characteristics in common with the IOCG style. In particular, ore fluid characteristics (magmatic versus non-magmatic) and new geochronological data are used to link the ore-forming processes with the overall crustal evolution to generate a metallogenetic model. Rift bounded shallow marine basins developed at ~2.1-2.0 Ga following a long period of extensional tectonics within the Greenstone-dominated, 2.5-2.0 Ga Karelian craton. The ~1.9-1.8 Ga Svecofennian Orogen is characterised by subduction and accretion from the southwest. An initial emplacement of calc-alkaline magmas into ~1.9 Ga continental arcs led to the formation of the Haparanda Suite and the Porphyrite Group volcanic rocks. Following this early stage of magmatic activity, and separated from it by the earliest deformation and metamorphism, more alkali-rich magmas of the Perthite Monzonite Suite and the Kiirunavaara Group volcanic rocks were formed at ~1.88 Ga. Subsequently, partial melting of the middle crust produced large volumes of ~1.85 and 1.8 Ga S-type granites in conjunction with subduction related A-/I-type magmatism and associated deformation and metamorphism. A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPTIn our metallogenetic model the ore formation is considered to relate to the geological evolution as follows. Iron formations and a few stratiform sulphide deposits were deposited in relation to exhalative processes in rift bounded marine basins. The iron formations may be sub-divided into BIF-(banded iron formations) andMg-rich types, and at several locations these types grade into each other. There is no direct age evidence to constrain the deposition of iron formations, but stable isotope data and stratigraphic correlations suggest a formation within the 2.1-2.0 Ga age range. The major Kiruna-type ores formed from an iron-rich magma (generally with a hydrothermal over-print) and are restricted to areas occup...

13Microorganisms produce and consume methane in terrestrial surface environments, sea 14 sediments and, as indicated by recent discoveries, in fractured crystalline bedrock. These 15 processes in the crystalline bedrock remain, however, unexplored both in terms of 16 mechanisms and spatiotemporal distribution. Here we have studied these processes via a 17 multi-method approach including microscale analysis of the stable isotope compositions of