Debris-Rich Basal Ice as a Microbial Habitat, Taylor Glacier, Antarctica

Montross, Scott; Skidmore, M. L.; Christner, Brent C.; Samyn, Denis; Tison, Jean-Louis; Lorrain, Réginald; Doyle, Shawn M.; Fitzsimons, Sean J.

doi:10.1080/01490451.2013.811316

Cited by 49 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…All samples contained a 7 g/l NaCl solution, which is a salt concentration comparable with measurements in Antarctic basal ice [23]. IBPs were added to three samples to monitor concentration effects and the difference between naturally secreted extracellular protein (ECP) and purified recombinant IBP (rIBP).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recrystallization inhibition in ice due to ice binding protein activity detected by nuclear magnetic resonance

Brown

Seymour

Brox

et al. 2014

Biotechnology Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

HighlightsMR techniques can quantitatively characterize ice liquid vein network structure.MR techniques can non-invasively monitor ice recrystallization processes with time.Bacterial ice binding protein results in persistent small ice crystal structure.MR is a new method to quantify ice structure during biotechnological processes.Results demonstrate potential of MR in biotechnology process monitoring.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recrystallization inhibition in ice due to ice binding protein activity detected by nuclear magnetic resonance

Brown

Seymour

Brox

et al. 2014

Biotechnology Reports

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Several studies show that subglacial water system could host bacterial communities (Sharp et al, 1999;Foght et al, 2004;Hodson et al, 2008;Lanoil et al, 2009;Christner et al, 2014;Montross et al, 2014;Boetius et al, 2015) that enhance subglacial weathering. Montross et al (2013) demonstrated the importance of the generation of bicarbonate from microbial respiration of organic matter from subglacial sediments underlain (in part) by gneissic/granitic bedrock in laboratory experiments.…”

Section: Carbon and Oxygen Isotopic Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemical Processes Leading to the Precipitation of Subglacial Carbonate Crusts at Bossons Glacier, Mont Blanc Massif (French Alps)

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Cold climate carbonates can be used as paleoclimatic proxies. The mineralogy and isotopic composition of subglacially precipitated carbonate crusts (SPCCs) provide insights into the subglacial conditions and processes occurring at the meltwaterbasement rock interface of glaciers. This study documents such crusts discovered on the lee side of a gneissic roche moutonnée at the terminus of the Bossons glacier in the Mont Blanc Massif area (France). The geological context and mineralogical investigations suggest that the Ca used for the precipitation of large crystals of radial fibrous sparite observed in these crusts originated from subglacial chemical weathering of Ca-bearing minerals of the local bedrock (plagioclase and amphibole). Measurements of the carbon and oxygen isotope compositions in the crusts indicate precipitation at, or near to, equilibrium with the basal meltwater under open system conditions during refreezing processes. The homogeneous and low carbonate δ 13 C values (ca. −11.3‰) imply a large contribution of soil organic carbon to the Bossons subglacial meltwater carbon reservoir at the time of deposition. In addition, organic remains trapped within the SPCCs give an age of deposition around 6,500 years cal BP suggesting that the Mid-Holocene climatic and pedological optima are archived in the Bossons glacier carbonate crusts.

show abstract

“…The chemical signature of the brine that feeds the Blood Falls conduit is detectable below the glacier across the extent of the terminus (Mikucki et al, ) and is predicted to release some discharge along the lateral moraines (Badgeley et al, ); in fact, small amounts of iron seepage have occasionally been observed in these areas. However, the microbial assemblage in sediment laden Taylor Glacier basal ice, collected 1.5 km up‐glacier from Blood Falls (Doyle et al, ; Montross et al, ) does not share similarity with any of our samples (EMB, non‐outflow or WLB). Rather, these authors found that Taylor basal ice was dominated by members of the Paenisporosarcina and Bacillus genera, which are essentially absent in our data.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Microbial diversity of an Antarctic subglacial community and high‐resolution replicate sampling inform hydrological connectivity in a polar desert

Campen

Kowalski

Lyons

et al. 2019

Environmental Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Antarctic subglacial environments host microbial ecosystems and are proving to be geochemically and biologically diverse. The Taylor Glacier, Antarctica, periodically expels iron‐rich brine through a conduit sourced from a deep subglacial aquifer, creating a dramatic red surface feature known as Blood Falls. We used Illumina MiSeq sequencing to describe the core microbiome of this subglacial brine and identified previously undetected but abundant groups including the candidate bacterial phylum Atribacteria and archaeal phylum Pacearchaeota. Our work represents the first microbial characterization of samples collected from within a glacier using a melt probe, and the only Antarctic subglacial aquatic environment that, to date, has been sampled twice. A comparative analysis showed the brine community to be stable at the operational taxonomic unit level of 99% identity over a decade. Higher resolution sequencing enabled deconvolution of the microbiome of subglacial brine from mixtures of materials collected at the glacier surface. Diversity patterns between this brine and samples from the surrounding landscape provide insight into the hydrological connectivity of subglacial fluids to the surface polar desert environment. Understanding subice brines collected on the surfaces of thick ice covers has implications for analyses of expelled materials that may be sampled on icy extraterrestrial worlds.

show abstract

Debris-Rich Basal Ice as a Microbial Habitat, Taylor Glacier, Antarctica

Cited by 49 publications

References 29 publications

Recrystallization inhibition in ice due to ice binding protein activity detected by nuclear magnetic resonance

Recrystallization inhibition in ice due to ice binding protein activity detected by nuclear magnetic resonance

Geochemical Processes Leading to the Precipitation of Subglacial Carbonate Crusts at Bossons Glacier, Mont Blanc Massif (French Alps)

Microbial diversity of an Antarctic subglacial community and high‐resolution replicate sampling inform hydrological connectivity in a polar desert

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About