Microbial biomineralization in weathered volcanic ash deposit and formation of biogenic minerals by experimental incubation
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Motoharu Kawano
and
Katsutoshi Tomita
Abstract
Microbial biomineralization in a weathered volcanic ash deposit from the 1914 to 1915 A.D. eruption of Sakurajima volcano was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The solution chemistry of pore water was also analyzed to elucidate saturation conditions. In addition, experimental incubations of bacteria collected from the volcanic ash were performed to confirm bacterial mineralization. TEM revealed that the weathered volcanic ash contains significant amounts of spherical to rod-shaped bacteria ranging from 1.3 × 108 to 2.6 × 108 cell/g, most of which have cell wall surfaces that are completely covered or decorated by either massive aggregates of allophane-like granular materials or irregular aggregates of smectitelike fibers and/or flakes. EDX confirmed that the granular minerals have chemical compositions similar to proto-imogolite allophane, whereas the smectite-like fibers and/or flakes show a wide range of chemical compositions corresponding to the compositional field between allophane and nontronite. The volcanic ash contains about 22 wt% of pore water, which is slightly acidic, relatively low redox potential, and enriched in Si, Na, Cl-, and SO42- ions. The saturation indices (SI) calculated by the PHREEQC geochemical code indicate that the pore water is almost saturated with respect to amorphous Al(OH)3, ferrihydrite, amorphous silica, and cristobalite, and significantly oversaturated with respect to silicate minerals in the order: halloysite < kaolinite < montmorillonite < allophane < nontronite. The allophane-like granular minerals seems to be preferentially precipitated by bacterial interaction with Al and Si ions in the pore water as a metastable phase. The poorly ordered smectite-like fibers and/or flakes may be transformed from the allophane-like materials as a intermediate phase between allophane and nontronite by the driving force originated from the greatest SI value of nontronite. The experimental incubation confirmed that amorphous silica containing a small amount of Fe is formed on the bacterial cell surfaces in liquid media with both Fe and Si ions. Likewise, beidellite-like smectite associated with the bacterial surfaces is produced in liquid media containing both Al and Si ions. However, no minerals are produced in the same media containing no metal ions or no bacteria. These results imply that bacteria play an important role in the accumulation of metal ions and in the formation of silicate minerals during weathering of volcanic ash.
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Some mineral physics constraints on the rheology and geothermal structure of Earth’s lower mantle
- Biodurability of talc
- Microbial biomineralization in weathered volcanic ash deposit and formation of biogenic minerals by experimental incubation
- In situ atomic force microscopy study of hectorite and nontronite dissolution: Implications for phyllosilicate edge surface structures and dissolution mechanisms
- Na- and Cs-exchange in a clinoptilolite-rich rock: Analysis of the outgoing cations in solution
- The effects of time, temperature, and concentration on Sr2+ exchange in clinoptilolite in aqueous solutions
- Thermodynamics of ion-exchanged and natural clinoptilolite
- Thermochemical study of calcium zeolites–heulandite and stilbite
- Fe3+/ΣFe vs. FeLα peak energy for minerals and glasses: Recent advances with the electron microprobe
- Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: The origin of rose coloration
- Cathodoluminescence study of apatite crystals
- Hydrogen in spessartine-almandine garnets as a tracer of granitic pegmatite evolution
- Ab initio studies of possible fluorine-bearing four- and fivefold coordinated Al species in aluminosilicate glasses
- The nature of radiohaloes in biotite: Experimental studies and modeling
- Boron metasomatism of the Alta stock contact aureole, Utah: Evidence from borates, mineral chemistry, and geochemistry
- Low P-T Caledonian resetting of U-rich Paleoproterozoic zircons, central Sweden
- Graphical analysis of the orthopyroxene-pigeonite-augite-plagioclase equilibrium at liquidus temperatures and low pressure
- Synthesis and characterization of white micas in the join muscovite–aluminoceladonite
- Displacive components of the low-temperature phase transitions in lawsonite
- Radiographic study on the viscosity of the Fe-FeS melts at the pressure of 5 to 7 GPa
Articles in the same Issue
- Some mineral physics constraints on the rheology and geothermal structure of Earth’s lower mantle
- Biodurability of talc
- Microbial biomineralization in weathered volcanic ash deposit and formation of biogenic minerals by experimental incubation
- In situ atomic force microscopy study of hectorite and nontronite dissolution: Implications for phyllosilicate edge surface structures and dissolution mechanisms
- Na- and Cs-exchange in a clinoptilolite-rich rock: Analysis of the outgoing cations in solution
- The effects of time, temperature, and concentration on Sr2+ exchange in clinoptilolite in aqueous solutions
- Thermodynamics of ion-exchanged and natural clinoptilolite
- Thermochemical study of calcium zeolites–heulandite and stilbite
- Fe3+/ΣFe vs. FeLα peak energy for minerals and glasses: Recent advances with the electron microprobe
- Fibrous nanoinclusions in massive rose quartz: The origin of rose coloration
- Cathodoluminescence study of apatite crystals
- Hydrogen in spessartine-almandine garnets as a tracer of granitic pegmatite evolution
- Ab initio studies of possible fluorine-bearing four- and fivefold coordinated Al species in aluminosilicate glasses
- The nature of radiohaloes in biotite: Experimental studies and modeling
- Boron metasomatism of the Alta stock contact aureole, Utah: Evidence from borates, mineral chemistry, and geochemistry
- Low P-T Caledonian resetting of U-rich Paleoproterozoic zircons, central Sweden
- Graphical analysis of the orthopyroxene-pigeonite-augite-plagioclase equilibrium at liquidus temperatures and low pressure
- Synthesis and characterization of white micas in the join muscovite–aluminoceladonite
- Displacive components of the low-temperature phase transitions in lawsonite
- Radiographic study on the viscosity of the Fe-FeS melts at the pressure of 5 to 7 GPa
