GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Geomicrobiology, Potsdam, Germany.
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry, Potsdam, Germany.
Microbiologyopen. 2023 Aug;12(4):e1370. doi: 10.1002/mbo3.1370.
Microorganisms are known to be natural agents of biocorrosion and mineral transformation, thereby potentially affecting the safety of deep geological repositories used for high-level nuclear waste storage. To better understand how resident microbial communities of the deep terrestrial biosphere may act on mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of insulating clays, we analyzed their structure and potential metabolic functions, as well as site-specific mineralogy and element composition from the dedicated Mont Terri underground research laboratory, Switzerland. We found that the Opalinus Clay formation is mainly colonized by Alphaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidota, which are known for corrosive biofilm formation. Potential iron-reducing bacteria were predominant in comparison to methanogenic archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria. Despite microbial communities in Opalinus Clay being in majority homogenous, site-specific mineralogy and geochemistry conditions have selected for subcommunities that display metabolic potential for mineral dissolution and transformation. Our findings indicate that the presence of a potentially low-active mineral-associated microbial community must be further studied to prevent effects on the repository's integrity over the long term.
微生物是众所周知的生物腐蚀性和矿物转化的天然剂，因此可能会影响用于高放核废物储存的深部地质处置库的安全性。为了更好地了解深地生物圈中常驻微生物群落可能对隔热粘土的矿物学和地球化学特征产生的影响，我们分析了它们的结构和潜在的代谢功能，以及来自瑞士 Mont Terri 地下研究实验室的特定地点的矿物学和元素组成。我们发现，蛋白石粘土地层主要被α变形菌、厚壁菌门和拟杆菌门定植，这些菌门以腐蚀性生物膜的形成而闻名。与产甲烷古菌和硫酸盐还原菌相比，潜在的铁还原菌占优势。尽管蛋白石粘土中的微生物群落主要是同质的，但特定地点的矿物学和地球化学条件选择了具有溶解和转化矿物的代谢潜力的亚群落。我们的研究结果表明，必须进一步研究潜在的低活性矿物相关微生物群落的存在，以防止其对长期储存库完整性的影响。
