Miniaturized biosignature analysis reveals implications for the formation of cold seep carbonates at Hydrate Ridge (off Oregon, USA)

Methane-related carbonates from Hydrate Ridge typically show several macroscopically distinguishable mineral phases, namely whitish aragonite, lucent aragonite, and gray micrite. The relationship of these phases to particular microorganisms or biogeochemical processes is as yet unclear. We used a miniaturized biomarker technique on mg samples, combined with factor analysis and subsequent electron microprobe analysis, to study lipid biomarkers and chemical compositions of the individual phases. This allows us to identify particular mechanisms involved in the formation of the different carbonate precipitates. Our combined analysis of biomarkers and petrographic traits shows that most of the lipids related to the anaerobic oxidation of methane (>90% by weight) are concentrated within only a minor compartment (~20% by volume) of the Hydrate Ridge carbonates, the whitish aragonite. The patterns indicate that the whitish aragonite represents fossilized biofilms of methanotrophic consortia containing mainly archaea of the ANME-2 group and sulfate reducing bacteria, whereas the precipitation of the lucent aragonite may have lacked the immediate proximity of microorganisms during formation. By contrast, the gray micrite formed by incorporation of allochthonous organic and inorganic matter during carbonate precipitation induced by the anaerobic oxidation of methane involving ANME-1 archaea

Microbial community structure and dynamics during anaerobic digestion of various agricultural waste materials

The influence of the feedstock type on the microbial communities involved in anaerobic digestion was investigated in laboratory-scale biogas reactors fed with different agricultural waste materials. Community composition and dynamics over 2 months of reactors' operation were investigated by amplicon sequencing and profiling terminal restriction fragment length polymorphisms of 16S rRNA genes. Major bacterial taxa belonged to the Clostridia and Bacteroidetes, whereas the archaeal community was dominated by methanogenic archaea of the orders Methanomicrobiales and Methanosarcinales. Correlation analysis revealed that the community composition was mainly influenced by the feedstock type with the exception of a temperature shift from 38 to 55 °C which caused the most pronounced community shifts. Bacterial communities involved in the anaerobic digestion of conventional substrates such as maize silage combined with cattle manure were relatively stable and similar to each other. In contrast, special waste materials such as chicken manure or Jatropha press cake were digested by very distinct and less diverse communities, indicating partial ammonia inhibition or the influence of other inhibiting factors. Anaerobic digestion of chicken manure relied on syntrophic acetate oxidation as the dominant acetate-consuming process due to the inhibition of aceticlastic methanogenesis. Jatropha as substrate led to the enrichment of fiber-degrading specialists belonging to the genera Actinomyces and Fibrobacter. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

The effect of long-term and decadal climate and hydrology variations on estuarine marsh dynamics: An identifying case study from the Río de la Plata

The vertical growth of coastal wetlands is known to primarily be controlled by local tidal range and sediment availability as well as the occurrence of storm events. In estuaries, sediment availability additionally depends on riverine sediment input, the effect of which may be more pronounced in some parts of the estuary, thereby introducing a distinct spatial pattern that depends on the estuary's shape as well as the riverine sediment input and the hydro-meteorological regime. In the present study, we investigate how estuarine marshes along the whole Río de la Plata (RdlP) are affected by decadal and long-term variations in river discharge and storm activity. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO), in this context, appears to introduce a pronounced decadal variability on sediment loads brought into the RdlP. Based on 15 sediment cores, recovered along the RdlP and adjacent Atlantic coast, vertical marsh growth rates were studied using radionuclide dating (210Pb and 137Cs) and grain size distributions. By comparing these sedimentological records with historic river discharge and storm surge data, we spatially interpret the relative importance of temporal variations in river discharge and storm activity on estuarine marsh growth. By delivering the first estimates for vertical growth rates of the RdlP marshes, we conclude that with average vertical marsh growth rates between 0.4 and 2.6 cm year− 1, the RdlP marshes are highly resilient against drowning under present and future sea-level rise (SLR) conditions. Furthermore, our results confirm a large spatial variability of the drivers for vertical marsh growth; extreme storm surges appear to play a role in the development of the outer RdlP marshes whereas the temporal variations in river discharge seem to be hierarchically more important for the marshes in the inner estuary.This project was financially supported by a grant of the Cluster of Excellence 80 ‘The Future Ocean’ to Mark Schuerch (grant CP1211). ‘The Future Ocean’ is funded within the framework of the Excellence Initiative by the ‘Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft’ (DFG) on behalf of the German federal and state governments (EXC 80). Felipe García-Rodríguez acknowledges ‘Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación’ (ANII) and PEDECIBA. Jan Scholten acknowledges the support provided by the FP7 EU Marie Curie Career Integration Grant (grant PCIG09-GA-2011-293499).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.06.029

Unprecedented Fe delivery from the Congo River margin to the South Atlantic Gyre

Rivers are a major supplier of particulate and dissolved material to the ocean, but their role as sources of bio-essential dissolved iron (dFe) is thought to be limited due to rapid, efficient Fe removal during estuarine mixing. Here, we use trace element and radium isotope data to show that the influence of the Congo River margin on surface Fe concentrations is evident over 1000 km from the Congo outflow. Due to an unusual combination of high Fe input into the Congo-shelf-zone and rapid lateral transport, the Congo plume constitutes an exceptionally large offshore dFe flux of 6.8 ± 2.3 × 108 mol year−1. This corresponds to 40 ± 15% of atmospheric dFe input into the South Atlantic Ocean and makes a higher contribution to offshore Fe availability than any other river globally. The Congo River therefore contributes significantly to relieving Fe limitation of phytoplankton growth across much of the South Atlantic

Lithium isotope geochemistry of marine pore waters: Insights from cold seep fluids

Lithium concentration and isotope data (δ7Li) are reported for pore fluids from 18 cold seep locations together with reference fluids from shallow marine environments, a sediment-hosted hydrothermal system and two Mediterranean brine basins. The new reference data and literature data of hydrothermal fluids and pore fluids from the Ocean Drilling Program follow an empirical relationship between Li concentration and δ7Li (δ7Li = −6.0(±0.3) · ln[Li] + 51(±1.2)) reflecting Li release from sediment or rocks and/or uptake of Li during mineral authigenesis. Cold seep fluids display δ7Li values between +7.5‰ and +45.7‰, mostly in agreement with this general relationship. Ubiquitous diagenetic signals of clay dehydration in all cold seep fluids indicate that authigenic smectite–illite is the major sink for light pore water Li in deeply buried continental margin sediments. Deviations from the general relationship are attributed to the varying provenance and composition of sediments or to transport-related fractionation trends. Pore fluids on passive margins receive disproportionally high amounts of Li from intensely weathered and transported terrigenous matter. By contrast, on convergent margins and in other settings with strong volcanogenic input, Li concentrations in pore water are lower because of intense Li uptake by alteration minerals and, most notably, adsorption of Li onto smectite. The latter process is not accompanied by isotope fractionation, as revealed from a separate study on shallow sediments. A numerical transport-reaction model was applied to simulate Li isotope fractionation during upwelling of pore fluids. It is demonstrated that slow pore water advection (order of mm a−1) suffices to convey much of the deep-seated diagenetic Li signal into shallow sediments. If carefully applied, Li isotope systematics may, thus, provide a valuable record of fluid/mineral interaction that has been inherited several hundreds or thousands of meters below the actual seafloor fluid escape structure