01755nas a2200241 4500008004100000245006900041210006500110260001200175300001200187490000800199520109500207653001101302100002201313700001501335700001601350700001501366700001601381700001401397700001301411700002101424700001101445856005701456 2009 eng d00aA Contemporary Microbially Maintained Subglacial Ferrous "Ocean"0 aContemporary Microbially Maintained Subglacial Ferrous Ocean c04/2009 a397-4000 v3243 a

An active microbial assemblage cycles sulfur in a sulfate-rich, ancient marine brine beneath Taylor Glacier, an outlet glacier of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet, with Fe(III) serving as the terminal electron acceptor. Isotopic measurements of sulfate, water, carbonate, and ferrous iron and functional gene analyses of adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate reductase imply that a microbial consortium facilitates a catalytic sulfur cycle. These metabolic pathways result from a limited organic carbon supply because of the absence of contemporary photosynthesis, yielding a subglacial ferrous brine that is anoxic but not sulfidic. Coupled biogeochemical processes below the glacier enable subglacial microbes to grow in extended isolation, demonstrating how analogous organic-starved systems, such as Neoproterozoic oceans, accumulated Fe(II) despite the presence of an active sulfur cycle.

10aBiggie1 aMikucki, Jill, A.1 aPearson, A1 aJohnston, D1 aTurchyn, A1 aFarquhar, J1 aSchrag, D1 aAnbar, A1 aPriscu, John, C.1 aLee, P uhttp://www.sciencemag.org/content/324/5925/397.short