T143 How Subsurface Properties Determine Microbial Habitats: The Role of Groundwater Flow and Subsurface Chemistry in Supplying Energy and Nutrients to the Subsurface Biosphere
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
TOWARDS AN INTEGRATION OF PHYSICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES
Paper number: T143-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 10:05 AM – 10:25 AM
Authors
Abstract
While novel microbial interactions and new sources of subsurface energy continue to be discovered, numerous geophysical and geochemical properties that determine microbial characteristics are, in principal, understood. However, applying this knowledge to subsurface systems is complicated by issues of defining the most limiting parameter or process, reconciling scale and frequency of measurement to the site and regional context, and understanding the richness of physiological states and interactions that occur in microbial populations. This presentation will provide an overview of the properties that are known (or thought) to be primary determinants of microbial characteristics in the subsurface, and introduce physiological and ecological concepts that offer the potential to improve the mapping of microbial activities to hydrogeochemical categories.