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EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 87, NO. 7, doi:10.1029/2006EO070002, 2006

Energy in the Dark: Fuel for Life in the Deep Ocean and Beyond

Wolfgang Bach

Geoscience Department, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany


Katrina J. Edwards

Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA


John M. Hayes

Department of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA


Stefan Sievert

Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA


Julie A. Huber

The Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA


Mitchell L. Sogin

The Josephine Bay Paul Center in Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA


Abstract

To most people, the ‘biosphere’ begins with green plants and ends with bacteria. Everything in it is part of a food chain that depends on organic carbon initially captured and packaged by photosynthesis. Most geoscientists, though, are aware that this view is too restrictive, as it does not include carbon fixation that is fuelled by chemical energy. It is becoming increasingly obvious that energy and carbon cycling in the deep ocean and subseafloor are potentially important issues in solving redox and carbon budgets. Yet, quantification of the magnitude and activity of this dark and deep biosphere and its organic versus inorganic energy and carbon sources is difficult. Photosynthesis and its products are pervasive, and it is hard to identify environments that are unaffected by their presence to at least some degree.

Published 14 February 2006.

Index Terms: 0400 Biogeosciences; 0448 Biogeosciences: Geomicrobiology; 0465 Biogeosciences: Microbiology: ecology, physiology and genomics (4840).

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Citation: Bach, W., K. J. Edwards, J. M. Hayes, S. Sievert, J. A. Huber, and M. L. Sogin (2006), Energy in the Dark: Fuel for Life in the Deep Ocean and Beyond, Eos Trans. AGU, 87(7), doi:10.1029/2006EO070002.