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Item Influence of lithogenic energy on subglacial microbial community composition(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Agriculture, 2021) Dunham, Eric Corwin; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Eric Boyd; John E. Dore, Mark L. Skidmore, Eric E. Roden and Eric S. Boyd were co-authors of the article, 'Lithogenic hydrogen supports microbial primary production in subglacial and proglacial environments' in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America' which is contained within this dissertation.; K. Rebecca Mitchell, Mark L. Skidmore and Eric S. Boyd were co-authors of the article, 'Influence of ferric iron on community composition in a basaltic glacial catchment' which is contained within this dissertation.Chemosynthesis, the generation of biomass using chemical energy, supported life on early Earth and continues to sustain contemporary light-independent ecosystems. The mechanisms of nutrient release from the geosphere are critical to understanding the present and historical distribution and diversity of life. Glaciers release such nutrients through comminution of bedrock, continuously resurfacing reactive minerals that can be colonized and exploited by chemosynthetic microorganisms. Bedrock mineralogy influences the nutrients available in these environments, but little is known about which nutrients are most important or how they affect microbial community composition, particularly in catchments overlying igneous bedrock like basalt. Iron and silicate minerals, common in basalt, readily generate both reductants such as H 2 and oxidants such as Fe(III) through interactions with water. Abundant H 2 in meltwaters of the basalt-based Icelandic glacier Kotlujokull (KJ) were found to support sediment microbial communities better adapted to use H 2 in chemosynthetic metabolism than those found beneath the carbonate-based Robertson Glacier (RG), Canada. KJ communities exhibited shorter lag-times and faster rates of net H 2 oxidation and dark carbon dioxide (CO 2) fixation than those from RG. A KJ sediment enrichment culture provided with H 2, CO 2, and Fe(III) produced a chemolithoautotrophic population related to Rhodoferax ferrireducens, which was also detected using molecular techniques in sediments from Kaldalonsjokull (Kal), another basalt-based Icelandic glacier. The abundance and composition of microbial communities that colonized defined minerals incubated for 12 months in Kal meltwater streams were examined by extracting DNA and sequencing PCR-amplifiable 16S rRNA genes. DNA quantities and the composition of 16S rRNA genes recovered from Kal sediments were most similar to those recovered from incubated Fe(III)-bearing minerals hematite and magnetite, with putative Fe(III) reducers dominating all three communities. These findings point to the importance of bedrock mineral composition in influencing the supplies of nutrients like H 2 and Fe(III) that, in turn, influence the diversity, abundance, and activity of microbial communities in subglacial environments. They further indicate the potential for subglacial habitats to serve as refugia for microbial communities in the absence of sunlight, such as during Snowball Earth episodes, or on icy planets without photosynthetic life.Item Hydrogen production from mechanically-activated basalt under experimental conditions simulating subglacial environments(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 2019) Mitchell, Kari Rebecca; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Mark L. SkidmoreShearing of rocks containing silicate followed by reaction with water has previously been shown to produce hydrogen under experimental conditions relevant to subglacial environments. The abiotic production of hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, and other hydrocarbon gases has also been demonstrated in laboratory comminution experiments on rocks from glaciated catchments. Thus, the generation of these biologically useful gases (e.g. hydrogen and methane) beneath glaciers could serve as a source of reductant capable of sustaining microbial ecosystems beneath the ice. Despite the ubiquitous nature of basalt on both Earth and other planetary bodies, production of hydrogen and other gases from basalt through mechanical shearing and reaction with water has not been demonstrated. Basalts were collected from glaciated catchments in Iceland to test whether hydrogen and other gases were produced under laboratory conditions simulating glacial comminution. Rock samples were milled under an inert atmosphere, after which water was added and hydrogen and methane production measured over time. An average of 6.6 nmol hydrogen and 2.6 nmol methane per gram rock were produced after 168 hours from basalt samples tested; additionally, hydrogen peroxide and radicals were produced during grinding. The abiogenic production of hydrogen and methane under these simulated subglacial basaltic environments demonstrated in this study also has implications for supporting subglacial microbial communities during periods of extended glaciation, such as glacial-interglacial cycles in the Pleistocene and during the pervasive low-latitude glaciation of the Cryogenian. This mechanism of hydrogen production also has implications for the potential for life on icy worlds like Mars.Item The basalts of Yellowstone Valley, southwestern Montana(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Letters & Science, 1967) Bush, John Harold