Subglacial erosion has the potential to sustain microbial processes in Subglacial Lake Whillans, Antarctica
Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800m 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-deriv...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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2021
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Online Access: | https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/subglacial-erosion-has-the-potential-to-sustain-microbial-processes-in-subglacial-lake-whillans-antarctica(af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130420820&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
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ftuniaarhuspubl:oai:pure.atira.dk:publications/af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1 2023-12-03T10:11:37+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 2021-06 https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/subglacial-erosion-has-the-potential-to-sustain-microbial-processes-in-subglacial-lake-whillans-antarctica(af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130420820&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/subglacial-erosion-has-the-potential-to-sustain-microbial-processes-in-subglacial-lake-whillans-antarctica(af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1).html 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 , 134 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x ACTIVE RESERVOIR BENEATH HAUT-GLACIER-DAROLLA ICE STREAM-B HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE WEST ANTARCTICA FLUID INCLUSIONS H-2 GENERATION OXIDATION METHANE PYRITE article 2021 ftuniaarhuspubl https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x 2023-11-08T23:59:57Z Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800m 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. The crushing and wetting of rocks by erosion under glaciers produces chemical compounds that could fuel microbial activity, as demonstrated by experiments on material collected from Subglacial Lake Whillans in Antarctica Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Stream B West Antarctica Aarhus University: Research Antarctic West Antarctica Whillans ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) Communications Earth & Environment 2 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Aarhus University: Research |
op_collection_id |
ftuniaarhuspubl |
language |
English |
topic |
ACTIVE RESERVOIR BENEATH HAUT-GLACIER-DAROLLA ICE STREAM-B HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE WEST ANTARCTICA FLUID INCLUSIONS H-2 GENERATION OXIDATION METHANE PYRITE |
spellingShingle |
ACTIVE RESERVOIR BENEATH HAUT-GLACIER-DAROLLA ICE STREAM-B HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE WEST ANTARCTICA FLUID INCLUSIONS H-2 GENERATION OXIDATION METHANE PYRITE 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 |
topic_facet |
ACTIVE RESERVOIR BENEATH HAUT-GLACIER-DAROLLA ICE STREAM-B HYDROGEN-PEROXIDE WEST ANTARCTICA FLUID INCLUSIONS H-2 GENERATION OXIDATION METHANE PYRITE |
description |
Subglacial Lake Whillans lies below around 800m 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. The crushing and wetting of rocks by erosion under glaciers produces chemical compounds that could fuel microbial activity, as demonstrated by experiments on material collected from Subglacial Lake Whillans in Antarctica |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gill-Olivas, Beatriz Telling, Jon Tranter, Martyn Skidmore, Mark Christner, Brent O'Doherty, Simon Priscu, John |
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://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/subglacial-erosion-has-the-potential-to-sustain-microbial-processes-in-subglacial-lake-whillans-antarctica(af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1).html https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130420820&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-64.250,-64.250,-84.450,-84.450) |
geographic |
Antarctic West Antarctica Whillans |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic West Antarctica Whillans |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Stream B West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Stream B West 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 , 134 . https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00202-x |
op_relation |
https://pure.au.dk/portal/da/publications/subglacial-erosion-has-the-potential-to-sustain-microbial-processes-in-subglacial-lake-whillans-antarctica(af5b9b35-2ca3-4e4b-9a8c-6f254381b9b1).html |
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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1784254402688712704 |