Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic
The polar desert is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Endolithic organisms can escape or mitigate the hazards of the polar desert by using the resources available in the interior of rocks. We examined endolithic communities within crystalline rocks that have undergone shock metamorphism...
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Cambridge University Press
2003
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:17611 2023-05-15T13:45:12+02:00 Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic Fike, David A. Cockell, Charles Pearce, David Lee, Pascal 2003 http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/17611/ http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=B94828679359A14AF33B4E2B4DB5817B.journals?fromPage=online&aid=151269 unknown Cambridge University Press Fike, David A.; Cockell, Charles; Pearce, David orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 Lee, Pascal. 2003 Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic. International Journal of Astrobiology, 1 (4). 311-323. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290> Publication - Article NonPeerReviewed 2003 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290 2023-02-04T19:31:13Z The polar desert is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Endolithic organisms can escape or mitigate the hazards of the polar desert by using the resources available in the interior of rocks. We examined endolithic communities within crystalline rocks that have undergone shock metamorphism as a result of an asteroid or comet impact. Specifically, we present a characterization of the heterotrophic endolithic community and its environment in the interior of impact-shocked gneisses and their host polymict breccia from the Haughton impact structure on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic. Microbiological colonization of impact-shocked rocks is facilitated by impact-induced fissures and cavities, which occur throughout the samples, the walls of which are lined with high abundances of biologically important elements owing to the partial volatilization of minerals within the rock during the impact. 27 heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from these shocked rocks and were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The isolates from the shocked gneiss and the host breccia are similar to each other, and to other heterotrophic communities isolated from polar environments, suggesting that the interiors of the rocks are colonized by microorganisms from the surrounding country rocks and soils. Inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis were used to identify the chemical composition of the shocked materials and to document the in situ growth of microbes in their interiors. The identification of these heterotrophic communities within impact-shocked crystalline rocks extends our knowledge of the habitable biosphere on Earth. The colonization of the interiors of these samples has astrobiological applications both for considering terrestrial, microbiological contamination of meteorites from the Antarctic ice sheet and for investigating possible habitats for microbial organisms on the early Earth, and more speculatively, ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Devon Island Ice Sheet Nunavut polar desert Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic Nunavut Devon Island ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) International Journal of Astrobiology 1 4 311 323 |
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Open Polar |
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Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
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ftnerc |
language |
unknown |
description |
The polar desert is one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Endolithic organisms can escape or mitigate the hazards of the polar desert by using the resources available in the interior of rocks. We examined endolithic communities within crystalline rocks that have undergone shock metamorphism as a result of an asteroid or comet impact. Specifically, we present a characterization of the heterotrophic endolithic community and its environment in the interior of impact-shocked gneisses and their host polymict breccia from the Haughton impact structure on Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic. Microbiological colonization of impact-shocked rocks is facilitated by impact-induced fissures and cavities, which occur throughout the samples, the walls of which are lined with high abundances of biologically important elements owing to the partial volatilization of minerals within the rock during the impact. 27 heterotrophic bacteria were isolated from these shocked rocks and were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The isolates from the shocked gneiss and the host breccia are similar to each other, and to other heterotrophic communities isolated from polar environments, suggesting that the interiors of the rocks are colonized by microorganisms from the surrounding country rocks and soils. Inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis were used to identify the chemical composition of the shocked materials and to document the in situ growth of microbes in their interiors. The identification of these heterotrophic communities within impact-shocked crystalline rocks extends our knowledge of the habitable biosphere on Earth. The colonization of the interiors of these samples has astrobiological applications both for considering terrestrial, microbiological contamination of meteorites from the Antarctic ice sheet and for investigating possible habitats for microbial organisms on the early Earth, and more speculatively, ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fike, David A. Cockell, Charles Pearce, David Lee, Pascal |
spellingShingle |
Fike, David A. Cockell, Charles Pearce, David Lee, Pascal Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
author_facet |
Fike, David A. Cockell, Charles Pearce, David Lee, Pascal |
author_sort |
Fike, David A. |
title |
Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
title_short |
Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
title_full |
Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
title_fullStr |
Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic |
title_sort |
heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from haughton impact structure, devon island, nunavut, canadian high arctic |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/17611/ http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=B94828679359A14AF33B4E2B4DB5817B.journals?fromPage=online&aid=151269 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) |
geographic |
Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic Nunavut Devon Island |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Antarctic The Antarctic Nunavut Devon Island |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Devon Island Ice Sheet Nunavut polar desert |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Arctic Devon Island Ice Sheet Nunavut polar desert |
op_relation |
Fike, David A.; Cockell, Charles; Pearce, David orcid:0000-0001-5292-4596 Lee, Pascal. 2003 Heterotrophic microbial colonization of the interior of impact-shocked rocks from Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Nunavut, Canadian High Arctic. International Journal of Astrobiology, 1 (4). 311-323. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550403001290 |
container_title |
International Journal of Astrobiology |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
311 |
op_container_end_page |
323 |
_version_ |
1766216417349206016 |