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33 -- Subsurface Microorganisms in Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Environments
WEDNESDAY, April 16, 2008: AFTERNOON
Helga Stan-Lotter
University of Salzburg
Salzburg, Salzburg, AU
Description
Viable subterranean microorganisms have been isolated in recent years from evaporites, deep sediments, caves, subsurface springs and permafrost areas. Some of these isolates could apparently be of great age, which is of interest to astrobiology. New issues have come into focus as a result of this research, and many as yet unanswered questions have been raised: Are microorganisms entrapped in deposits, sediments, etc., millions of years old, as the geological samples from which they were isolated, would suggest? If so, how can this be proven beyond doubt? How do these organisms survive? Which mechanisms allow them to endure prolonged states of starvation and/or desiccation? Are any specific dormant survival forms other than endospores produced? If so, could those be recognized in geological materials, such as rocks or sediments? Can dormant forms be resuscitated? Are subterranean prokaryotes able to divide almost infinitely slowly - as was proposed - which would imply maintenance of minimal metabolic activity? Answers to these questions will impact the search for extraterrestrial life. Scientists from a variety of disciplines are invited to address these issues. Contributions on highly sensitive detection methods for microorganisms are especially welcome.
ORAL SESSION
3:15 33-03-O. Unusual Low-Temperature Silica Dissolution and Silicification Reactions
in a Quartzite Cave: The Potential for Speleogenesis Under Basic Conditions
H. Barton, P. Suarez, J. Giarrizzo, E. Banks, M. Broering, K. Venkateswaran
3:30 33-04-O. Biogenic Fe/Mn Oxides in Caves and Surface Desert Varnish: Potential
Biosignatures for Earth & Mars [invited] P. Boston, M.N. Spilde, D.E. Northup,
A. Dichosa
3:45 33-17-O. Environmental Genomics Reveals a Single Species Ecosystem Deep
within the Earth [invited] T. Onstott, D. Chivian, R. Alm, E. Brodie, D. Culley, T. Gihring,
A. Lapidus, L.-H. Lin, S. Lowry, D.Moser, P. Richardson, G. Southam, G. Wanger, L. Pratt,
A. Arkin, T. Hazen, F. Brockman
4:00 33-01-O. Turnover Times and Biodensities Inferred from Amino Acid Composition
of Deep Fracture Water Filtrates, a Steady-State Model
A.D. Aubrey, T.C. Onstott, T.L. Kieft, B. Mislowack, J.L. Bada
4:15 BREAK
4:30 33-13-O. The Effect of Impacts on the Deep Subsurface Biosphere of Earth:
Preliminary Results from the 2005 ICDP-USGS Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure
Drilling Project [invited] A. Gronstal, C.S. Cockell, M.A. Voytek, J. Kirshtein, K. Finster,
A. Schippers, A.-L. Reysenbach, G.S. Gohn, W.E. Sanford, J.W Horton Jr.
4:45 33-10-O. Surface Acidic to Subsurface Neutral Cycling Pathways of Sulfur, Iron
and Carbon in the Rio Tinto Mars Analog, Underground Habitats and the Search
for Carbonates on Mars [invited] D. Fernandez-Remolar, O. Prieto-Ballesteros,
F. Gómez, R. Amils, N. Rodriguez, D. Gómez Ortíz
5:00 33-18-O. Life Detection in Ancient Subsurface Salt Sediments and in Radioactive
Thermal Springs in the Central Alps H. Stan-Lotter, S. Fendrihan, G. W. Weidler,
M. Dornmayr-Pfaffenhuemer, A. Legat, C. Gruber, F.W. Gerbl, A. Holzinger, T.K. Polacsek
5:15 33-19-O. Video Journal: Installation of U-Tube Borehole Packer at High Lake
Camp, Nunavut Territory, Canada, Summer 2007
P. Suchecki, R. Droppo, B. Freifeld, L.M. Pratt
POSTERS
33-02-P. Geochemical and Microbial Characterization of the Cold, Deep Subsurface within
the Canadian Shield, a Habitat Analog for the Martian Subsurface
C. Bakermans, D.J. McGown, T. Ruskeeniemi, L. Ahonen, J. Telling, C. Boettiger, R. Ho, B.
Soffientino, S. M. Pfiffner, B. Sherwood-Lollar, S. Frape, R. Stotler, T.A. Vishnivetskaya,
L.M. Pratt, T.C. Onstott
33-05-P. Determination of Oxygen Production by Cyanobacteria in Desert Environment
Soil J. Bueno
33-06-P. Geochemical Constraints in Deep Permafrost Microbial Communities in an
Archean Metavolcanic Terrane E. Chan, S. Pfiffner, T. Ruskeeniemi, M. Talikka,
C. Bakermans, D. McGown, T.C. Onstott, A. Johnson, L. Pratt, R. Stotler, S. Frape, E. Brodie,
T. Hazen, B. Sherwood-Lollar
33-07-P. Molecular Analysis of Microbial Populations in European Glaciers
C. Cid, M. Postigo, A. Alcazar, F. Baquero
33-08-P. Moonmilk on Mars: Subterranean Calcite Biomineralization and Biosignature
Potential M. Curry, P. Boston, D. Northup, M. Spilde, E.L. Littlejohn, I.N. Cintron, B. Steven
33-09-P. Enhanced Fractionation of Stable Sulfur Isotopes during Maintenance Metabolism
of a Thermophilic Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Cultivated in a Retentostat
M. Davidson, L. Pratt, J. Fong, S. Pfiffner, T. Onstott, S. Tronick
33-11-P. Investigation of Putative Ammonium/Nitrite Oxidizers in a Subsurface
Radioactive Thermal Spring F. Gerbl, G. Weidler, H. Stan-Lotter
33-12-P. Contamination Controls in Retrieving Biological Samples in Drill Cores from the
Deep Subsurface A. Gronstal, M. Voytek, C. Cockell, J. Kirshtein, N. Bach, C. Rostad
33-14-P. Molecular Hydrogen in Rocks, its Implications for Early Life and the Deep
Biosphere I. Kulahci, F. Freund
33-15-P. Exploration and Characterization of a Novel Thermophilic Bacterium, Kurthia sp.
A. Kumar, R. Kumar
33-16-P. International 2006 Astrobiology Expedition to Kamchatka J. Maule, S. Leuko,
R. Anitori, P. Morrill, A. Shaw, A. Abramov, Z. Tsygankova, E. Gostev, D. Gilichinsky