Post by L Roebuck on Jun 20, 2006 7:46:49 GMT -5
June 19, 2006, 10:37PM
Subterranean life thrives deep in water system
Researchers find that 'badwater' in Edwards Aquifer is home to an array of life-forms
By MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR
Suppose you discovered the following in your drinking water: Long spaghetti-like strands of bacteria, flaky yellow mats that smell of rotten eggs, a stubby white fish named Satan, blind salamanders, snails.
What would you do?
Answer: Grow them in the lab and publish a paper. At least, that's what you do if you're Annette Summers Engel, geomicrobiologist who loves caves and slimy creatures.
Engel and a team of geologists from Louisiana State University have found a bacteria-based ecosystem thriving 1,000 feet below San Antonio, where the fresh water of the Edwards Aquifer intersects with a lesser-known body of salty water.
Called "the badwater" by local ranchers and well-drillers, this reservoir provides a chemical food source for bacteria that, in turn, support an array of underground life, including blind fish and salamanders, according to a study to be published in the journal Geomicrobiology.
"Most people ignore the badwater, because you can't drink it and you can't give it to cows," said Engel, who, with graduate student Kelli Wilson Randall, initiated the year-long research project in cooperation with the science arm of the Edwards Aquifer Authority. "But, intellectually, it is very interesting."
Engel compared the strings and mats of sulfur-eating microorganisms to bizarre life discovered in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. "Many of these microbes have genetic 'cousins' in the deep-sea vents," she said.
Two types of rare blind catfish, salamanders, snails and tiny creatures called isopods had been known to live in total darkness within the Edwards Aquifer, which provides drinking water to San Antonio and dozens of surrounding communities. Some of these organisms depend on nutrients carried underground via caves and sinkholes that feed rainwater — and pollutants — into the system.
michael.taylor@chron.com
Full Article: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/3984652.html
Subterranean life thrives deep in water system
Researchers find that 'badwater' in Edwards Aquifer is home to an array of life-forms
By MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR
Suppose you discovered the following in your drinking water: Long spaghetti-like strands of bacteria, flaky yellow mats that smell of rotten eggs, a stubby white fish named Satan, blind salamanders, snails.
What would you do?
Answer: Grow them in the lab and publish a paper. At least, that's what you do if you're Annette Summers Engel, geomicrobiologist who loves caves and slimy creatures.
Engel and a team of geologists from Louisiana State University have found a bacteria-based ecosystem thriving 1,000 feet below San Antonio, where the fresh water of the Edwards Aquifer intersects with a lesser-known body of salty water.
Called "the badwater" by local ranchers and well-drillers, this reservoir provides a chemical food source for bacteria that, in turn, support an array of underground life, including blind fish and salamanders, according to a study to be published in the journal Geomicrobiology.
"Most people ignore the badwater, because you can't drink it and you can't give it to cows," said Engel, who, with graduate student Kelli Wilson Randall, initiated the year-long research project in cooperation with the science arm of the Edwards Aquifer Authority. "But, intellectually, it is very interesting."
Engel compared the strings and mats of sulfur-eating microorganisms to bizarre life discovered in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. "Many of these microbes have genetic 'cousins' in the deep-sea vents," she said.
Two types of rare blind catfish, salamanders, snails and tiny creatures called isopods had been known to live in total darkness within the Edwards Aquifer, which provides drinking water to San Antonio and dozens of surrounding communities. Some of these organisms depend on nutrients carried underground via caves and sinkholes that feed rainwater — and pollutants — into the system.
michael.taylor@chron.com
Full Article: www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/3984652.html