Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits
Funding: This work was financially supported by a NERC Frontiers Grant (NE/V010824/1) and a Leverhulme Trust Grant (RPG‐2022‐ 313) to EES. Deep-marine brine seeps in the modern ocean are considered analogs for settings that favored the formation of sedimentary-exhalative zinc and lead deposits in de...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30168 https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 |
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/30168 2024-09-15T18:28:50+00:00 Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Long, Annabel Rochelle-Bates, Nathan Teske, Andreas NERC The Leverhulme Trust University of St Andrews.School of Earth & Environmental Sciences University of St Andrews.St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science 2024-07-15T11:30:10Z 15 2647244 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30168 https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 eng eng Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 304130631 f4e7a673-8ffa-4acc-86de-434b32c0e8ad 85197280791 Stueeken , E E , Long , A , Rochelle-Bates , N & Teske , A 2024 , ' Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences , vol. 129 , no. 7 , e2024JG008189 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 2169-8953 ORCID: /0000-0001-6861-2490/work/163571252 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30168 doi:10.1029/2024jg008189 NE/V010824/1 103935 Copyright © 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Gulf of Mexico Orca Basin Brine seeps Nitrogen isotopes DNRA DAS SDG 14 - Life Below Water MCC Journal article 2024 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 2024-08-28T00:12:18Z Funding: This work was financially supported by a NERC Frontiers Grant (NE/V010824/1) and a Leverhulme Trust Grant (RPG‐2022‐ 313) to EES. Deep-marine brine seeps in the modern ocean are considered analogs for settings that favored the formation of sedimentary-exhalative zinc and lead deposits in deep time. Microbial activity plays an important role in the accumulation of ore minerals, meaning that the extent of mineralization is at least indirectly dependent on nutrient fluxes. Here, we investigated the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle in shallow (15–50 cm) sediment cores from the Orca Basin brine pool and surrounding sites, as well as from an active brine seep area near Dead Crab Lake in the Gulf of Mexico, with the aim of constraining the effect of brine seepage on this bio-essential element. We find high porewater ammonium concentrations in the millimolar range, paired with elevated ratios of organic carbon to nitrogen in sediments, which confirm previous hypotheses that the brine recycles ammonium from sedimentary strata back into the water column. Within Orca Basin, we note tentative evidence of microbial ammonium utilization. At the active seep, ammonium is mixed into the overlying water column and likely undergoes oxidation. Isotopic data from sediments and dissolved ammonium, paired with previously published genomic data, suggest the presence of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium at the brine-seawater interface. We conclude that brine seeps can stimulate biological nitrogen metabolisms in multiple ways. Our results may help calibrate studies of biogeochemical cycles around brine seeps that are archived in the rock record. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Orca University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 129 7 |
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Open Polar |
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University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
Gulf of Mexico Orca Basin Brine seeps Nitrogen isotopes DNRA DAS SDG 14 - Life Below Water MCC |
spellingShingle |
Gulf of Mexico Orca Basin Brine seeps Nitrogen isotopes DNRA DAS SDG 14 - Life Below Water MCC Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Long, Annabel Rochelle-Bates, Nathan Teske, Andreas Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
topic_facet |
Gulf of Mexico Orca Basin Brine seeps Nitrogen isotopes DNRA DAS SDG 14 - Life Below Water MCC |
description |
Funding: This work was financially supported by a NERC Frontiers Grant (NE/V010824/1) and a Leverhulme Trust Grant (RPG‐2022‐ 313) to EES. Deep-marine brine seeps in the modern ocean are considered analogs for settings that favored the formation of sedimentary-exhalative zinc and lead deposits in deep time. Microbial activity plays an important role in the accumulation of ore minerals, meaning that the extent of mineralization is at least indirectly dependent on nutrient fluxes. Here, we investigated the biogeochemical nitrogen cycle in shallow (15–50 cm) sediment cores from the Orca Basin brine pool and surrounding sites, as well as from an active brine seep area near Dead Crab Lake in the Gulf of Mexico, with the aim of constraining the effect of brine seepage on this bio-essential element. We find high porewater ammonium concentrations in the millimolar range, paired with elevated ratios of organic carbon to nitrogen in sediments, which confirm previous hypotheses that the brine recycles ammonium from sedimentary strata back into the water column. Within Orca Basin, we note tentative evidence of microbial ammonium utilization. At the active seep, ammonium is mixed into the overlying water column and likely undergoes oxidation. Isotopic data from sediments and dissolved ammonium, paired with previously published genomic data, suggest the presence of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium at the brine-seawater interface. We conclude that brine seeps can stimulate biological nitrogen metabolisms in multiple ways. Our results may help calibrate studies of biogeochemical cycles around brine seeps that are archived in the rock record. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
NERC The Leverhulme Trust University of St Andrews.School of Earth & Environmental Sciences University of St Andrews.St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Long, Annabel Rochelle-Bates, Nathan Teske, Andreas |
author_facet |
Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth Long, Annabel Rochelle-Bates, Nathan Teske, Andreas |
author_sort |
Stueeken, Eva Elisabeth |
title |
Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
title_short |
Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
title_full |
Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
title_fullStr |
Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
title_sort |
deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30168 https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 |
genre |
Orca |
genre_facet |
Orca |
op_relation |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 304130631 f4e7a673-8ffa-4acc-86de-434b32c0e8ad 85197280791 Stueeken , E E , Long , A , Rochelle-Bates , N & Teske , A 2024 , ' Deep-marine brine seeps stimulate microbial nitrogen cycling : implications for the formation of sediment-hosted ore deposits ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences , vol. 129 , no. 7 , e2024JG008189 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 2169-8953 ORCID: /0000-0001-6861-2490/work/163571252 https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30168 doi:10.1029/2024jg008189 NE/V010824/1 103935 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2024. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jg008189 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
129 |
container_issue |
7 |
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1810470274990080000 |