Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica
Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800 m of Antarctic ice and is isolated from fresh sources of photosynthetic organic matter to sustain life. The diverse microbial ecosystems within the lake and underlying sediments are therefore dependent on a combination of relict, overridden, marine-deri...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1983/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/308554093/Full_text_PDF_final_published_version_.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00202-x |
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ftubristolcris:oai:research-information.bris.ac.uk:publications/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb 2024-02-04T09:55:19+01:00 Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica Gill-Olivas, Beatriz Telling, Jon Tranter, Martyn Skidmore, Mark Christner, Brent O'Doherty, Simon Priscu, John 2021-12-01 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/1983/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/308554093/Full_text_PDF_final_published_version_.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00202-x eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Gill-Olivas , B , Telling , J , Tranter , M , Skidmore , M , Christner , B , O'Doherty , S & Priscu , J 2021 , ' Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica ' , Communications Earth & Environment , vol. 2 , no. 1 , pp. 134 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x article 2021 ftubristolcris https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x 2024-01-05T00:02:21Z Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800 m of Antarctic ice and is isolated from fresh sources of photosynthetic organic matter to sustain life. The diverse microbial ecosystems within the lake and underlying sediments are therefore dependent on a combination of relict, overridden, marine-derived organic matter and mineral-derived energy. Here, we conduct experiments to replicate subglacial erosion involving both gentle and high-energy crushing of Subglacial Lake Whillans sediments and the subsequent addition of anoxic water. We find that substantial quantities of reduced species, including hydrogen, methane, acetate and ammonium and oxidised species such as hydrogen peroxide, sulfate and carbon dioxide are released. We propose that the concomitant presence of both hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide, alongside high concentrations of mineral surface radicals, suggests that the splitting of water on freshly abraded mineral surfaces increases the concentrations of redox pairs from rock-water reactions and could provide a mechanism to augment the energy available to microbial ecosystems. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica University of Bristol: Bristol Research Antarctic Whillans ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
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Open Polar |
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University of Bristol: Bristol Research |
op_collection_id |
ftubristolcris |
language |
English |
description |
Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800 m of Antarctic ice and is isolated from fresh sources of photosynthetic organic matter to sustain life. The diverse microbial ecosystems within the lake and underlying sediments are therefore dependent on a combination of relict, overridden, marine-derived organic matter and mineral-derived energy. Here, we conduct experiments to replicate subglacial erosion involving both gentle and high-energy crushing of Subglacial Lake Whillans sediments and the subsequent addition of anoxic water. We find that substantial quantities of reduced species, including hydrogen, methane, acetate and ammonium and oxidised species such as hydrogen peroxide, sulfate and carbon dioxide are released. We propose that the concomitant presence of both hydrogen and hydrogen peroxide, alongside high concentrations of mineral surface radicals, suggests that the splitting of water on freshly abraded mineral surfaces increases the concentrations of redox pairs from rock-water reactions and could provide a mechanism to augment the energy available to microbial ecosystems. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gill-Olivas, Beatriz Telling, Jon Tranter, Martyn Skidmore, Mark Christner, Brent O'Doherty, Simon Priscu, John |
spellingShingle |
Gill-Olivas, Beatriz Telling, Jon Tranter, Martyn Skidmore, Mark Christner, Brent O'Doherty, Simon Priscu, John Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Gill-Olivas, Beatriz Telling, Jon Tranter, Martyn Skidmore, Mark Christner, Brent O'Doherty, Simon Priscu, John |
author_sort |
Gill-Olivas, Beatriz |
title |
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
title_short |
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
title_full |
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica |
title_sort |
subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in subglacial lake whillans, antarctica |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1983/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/4be57408-9b61-4167-bec2-3991a87de4eb https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/files/308554093/Full_text_PDF_final_published_version_.pdf http://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00202-x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) |
geographic |
Antarctic Whillans |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Whillans |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica |
op_source |
Gill-Olivas , B , Telling , J , Tranter , M , Skidmore , M , Christner , B , O'Doherty , S & Priscu , J 2021 , ' Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica ' , Communications Earth & Environment , vol. 2 , no. 1 , pp. 134 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
2 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1789959253840101376 |