Yellow Stone National Park (YNP), USA, is well-known as its glorious travertine geomorphology as well as Huanglong National Scenic District in Sichuan, China. But there were some difference between them. The travertine deposition of YNP were formed from geothermal activity, meanwhile Huanglong Scenic District is located in high attitude and cold area and the travertine deposition appeared in the cold water. With the increasing attention to global carbon cycle, origin of life and the life action in the extreme environment, the geothermal travertine formation origin and mechanism were focused by the scientists from different field. The research plan was also a part of “the Mars project”. The reason was that the Mars’s surface environment is similar to that of the ancient Earth. This article reviewed the research results of the microbiology diversity, community structure and distribution, function gene and special microbial carbon metabolism passway in the hot spring of YNP. We also summarized the biological factor in the process of the travertine deposition of YNP. After comparing the research progress on the travertine deposition between YNP and Huanglong Scenic District, we put foreword the further strategy to understand the biological effect on the travertine deposition of Huanglong Scenic District.

PM2.5 (sandstorm-related) was sampled at four sites near dust source areas in Northern China in spring 2012. Every site was away from obvious pollution source. After drying 24 hours in a dry dish, X-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) of all the samples were examined. The main phases were quartz, albite, calcite and mica. SEM observations showed that the particles were mainly irregular shaped, but different sample the particle morphology is slightly different. And the surface was rough because of erosion mark or pores on them. The chemical composition of PM2.5 is characteristic of high SiO2 and CaO, while low K2O, Na2O. Main elements of the samples were Si, Al, Fe, Ca, which were familiar with crust elements and dust fall components [, but some samples also contained low-level heavy metals like As and Pb.

In order to more deeply understand the mechanism between microorganism and atmospheric inhaled mineral fine particles. Albite, the typical mineral fine particle in the atmosphere, was used as the research object. This study investigated the air common bacteria-Staphylococcus aureusacted on albite for 7 days. By inductively coupled plasma (ICP), zeta potentials analyzer, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) testing means, we can analyse soluble ions, surface charge, surface groups and surface morphology of albite. The results were listed as followes: 1Staphylococcus aureuscould promote the dissolution of albite, and promote the soluble Si, Al and Fe ions; 2Staphylococcus aureuswould adsorb on albite surface, gave its some characteristics to albite, changed surface charge, and made the zeta potential move in the positive direction. The above results are important for the establishment of the inhaled fine particles of mineral environmental and health impact assessment system.

As a new type of non-metallic mineral resource, serpentine has attracted more and more attentions. Serpentine mineral resources are abundant in China, with more than 5 billion tons reserves proved. However, most of them have not been used adequately except for some special serpentine, such as serpentine jade and chrysotile. The overview for status quo of serpentine utilization consists of the distribution, chemical compositions, crystal structure of serpentine, mature but not economic applications and some development of high-value utilization research. It is expected to provide some references for deeper research and promoting its applications.

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