B53E:
Biogeochemistry of Caves Posters


Submit an Abstract to this Session


Session ID#: 53191

Session Description:
Recent studies have revealed striking microbial species diversity among caves with similar ages and provenance. Likewise, broad variation in secondary carbonate and silica mineralogy has been noted and described. Many questions remain concerning the origin of features that appear to form a continuum between microbes and minerals. Geochemistry and isotope ratios can help constrain an abiotic or biotic origin of these features. Investigations of biomarkers such as lipids are helping to discriminate community activity and composition. Cave water and surface water chemistry can help predict the energy budget available to support life in these dark environments and estimate the source of nutrients and water supplied through fractures or conduits in cave walls and ceilings. We invite contributions of studies of secondary mineralogy, hydrogeology, and microbiology of caves and mines. We are particularly interested in assessments of community diversity, biomarkers, and energy available to support life in the subsurface.
Primary Convener:  Jennifer G Blank, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science & NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States
Conveners:  Pablo Sobron, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, United States, Richard J Leveille, McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada and Saugata Datta, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, San Antonio, United States
Primary Liaison:  Jennifer G Blank, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science & NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States
Chairs:  Jennifer G Blank, Blue Marble Space Institute of Science & NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States and Richard J Leveille, McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada
OSPA Liaison:  Richard J Leveille, McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada

Cross-Listed:
  • H - Hydrology
  • V - Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology
Index Terms:

0419 Biomineralization [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0448 Geomicrobiology [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0463 Microbe/mineral interactions [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
1055 Organic and biogenic geochemistry [GEOCHEMISTRY]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Variations of Microbial Metabolic Activity in Lava Caves as Determined by Bioluminescence Assay (469140)
Daniel Milshteyn1,2, Duane P Moser3, Julia Z Chen2,4, Gwenyth R Naness2,4, Cindy N Nguyen2,4, Mark A Ditzler5, Jennifer Blank2,6 and BRAILLE Team, (1)University of California, Santa Cruz, Biomolecular Engineering, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (2)NASA Ames Research Center, Division of Space Sciences and Astrobiology, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (3)Desert Research Institute, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Las Vegas, United States, (4)Smith College, Northampton, MA, United States, (5)NASA Ames Research Center, Exobiology Branch, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (6)Blue Marble Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, United States
Biogeochemical signatures in coralloid speleothems in basaltic lava tubes (414541)
Jenny Ni1, Richard J Leveille2 and Peter Douglas1, (1)McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, (2)McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada
Influence of Water-Rock Interaction on Cave Biogeochemistry (439190)
Saugata Datta, Kansas State University, Department of Geology, Manhattan, KS, United States, Harshad Vijay Kulkarni, University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, San Antonio, United States, Joshua Ford, Kansas State University, Geology, Manhattan, KS, United States, Richard J Leveille, McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada and Jennifer Blank, NASA Ames Research Center, Division of Space Sciences and Astrobiology, Moffett Field, CA, United States
Characterizing the Microbial Community of Lava Tube Ice for Determining its Habitability on Mars (448451)
Brady O'Connor, McGill University, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada, Lyle G. Whyte, McGill University, Natural Resource Sciences, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, Canada and Richard J Leveille, McGill University, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Montreal, QC, Canada
An assessment of microbial mat and microbially influenced mineral age, carbon bigeochemistry, lipid profiles, and eukaryotic and prokaryotic community structure in lava caves to inform life detection targets. (460253)
Brittany Kruger1, Duane P Moser2, Diana E Northup3, Magdalena R Osburn4, Jennifer J.M. Hathaway3, Mike Spilde5, Jennifer Blank6 and Katerina Papp7, (1)Desert Research Institute Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, United States, (2)Desert Research Institute, Division of Hydrologic Sciences, Las Vegas, United States, (3)University of New Mexico Main Campus, Albuquerque, United States, (4)Northwestern University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Evanston, United States, (5)University of New Mexico Main Campus, Albuquerque, NM, United States, (6)NASA Ames Research Center, Division of Space Sciences and Astrobiology, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (7)University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, United States
Vadose drips support subsurface biofilms at Wishing Well Cave, VA (461639)
Jennifer Macalady, Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, University Park, PA, United States, Hillary Figler, Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, Food Science, University Park, PA, United States and Uyen Nguyen, Pennsylvania State University Main Campus, Geosciences, University Park, PA, United States
Geochemistry of Romanian cave bat guano as a proxy for Holocene climate (461715)
Daniel Martin Cleary, University of South Florida Tampa, Tampa, United States, Bogdan P. Onac, University of South Florida Tampa, School of Geosciences, Tampa, FL, United States, Ferenc L Forray, University Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Jonathan G Wynn, University of South Florida Tampa, Tampa, AA, United States and Monica Ionita, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany
Consumption of Volatile Organic Compounds in Caves (463851)
Kevin D Webster, Tucson, United States, Dr. Alex Jarnot, PhD, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, United States, Donald Ray Blake, University of California Irvine, Department of Chemistry, Irvine, United States, Agnieszka Drobniak, Indiana Geological and Water Survey, Bloomington, IN, United States, Arndt Schimmelmann, Indiana University Bloomington, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Bloomington, IN, United States, Maria Mastalerz, Indiana University, Indiana Geological and Water Survey, Bloomington, United States and Albert Barberan, University of Arizona, Soil Water and Environmental Sciences, Tucson, United States

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