Identification of probable groundwater paths in the Amargosa Desert vicinity

Al-Qudah, Omar; Woocay, Arturo; Walton, John C.

doi:10.1016/j.apgeochem.2011.01.014

Cited by 15 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The third site sampled is an unnamed small pond in Armagosa Valley situated at Death Valley Junction (Armagosa) near the border of Nevada and California (36.3016°N, 116.4128°W). This alkaline pond likely results from underground water flowing through the alkaline desert uplands of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge (Weimeyer et al ., 2005; Al‐Qudah et al ., 2011) situated close to Armagosa.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of obligately alkaliphilic magnetotactic bacteria from extremely alkaline environments

Lefèvre

Frankel

Pósfai

et al. 2011

Environmental Microbiology

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Large numbers of magnetotactic bacteria were discovered in mud and water samples collected from a number of highly alkaline aquatic environments with pH values of ≈ 9.5. These bacteria were helical in morphology and biomineralized chains of bullet-shaped crystals of magnetite and were present in all the highly alkaline sites sampled. Three strains from different sites were isolated and cultured and grew optimally at pH 9.0-9.5 but not at 8.0 and below, demonstrating that these organisms truly require highly alkaline conditions and are not simply surviving/growing in neutral pH micro-niches in their natural habitats. All strains grew anaerobically through the reduction of sulfate as a terminal electron acceptor and phylogenetic analysis, based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, as well as some physiological features, showed that they could represent strains of Desulfonatronum thiodismutans, a known alkaliphilic bacterium that does not biomineralize magnetosomes. Our results show that some magnetotactic bacteria can be considered extremophilic and greatly extend the known ecology of magnetotactic bacteria and the conditions under which they can biomineralize magnetite. Moreover, our results show that this type of magnetotactic bacterium is common in highly alkaline environments. Our findings also greatly influence the interpretation of the presence of nanometer-sized magnetite crystals, so-called magnetofossils, in highly alkaline environments.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation of obligately alkaliphilic magnetotactic bacteria from extremely alkaline environments

Lefèvre

Frankel

Pósfai

et al. 2011

Environmental Microbiology

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“…Our geochemical results indicate that shallow groundwater is supplied to the Franklin Lake playa by flow from the north, east, and west. Prior geochemical studies noted the multiple water sources from the north (Naff, 1973, Root, andAl-Qudah et al, 2011), but did not recognize water supply directly west or east of FLP. Hydrologic descriptions of the area consider Franklin Lake playa to be an area of evaporative discharge of the water originating from Ash Meadows and areas north (Winograd and Thordarson, 1975).…”

Section: Variations In Water Compositionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Controls on the chemical composition of saline surface crusts and emitted dust from a wet playa in the Mojave Desert (USA)

Goldstein

Breit

Reynolds

2017

Journal of Arid Environments

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Saline-surface crusts and their compositions at ephemeral, dry, and drying lakes are important products of arid-land processes. Detailed understanding is lacking, however, about interactions among locally variable hydrogeologic conditions, compositional control of groundwater on vadose zone and surface salts, and dust composition. Chemical and physical data from groundwater, sediments, and salts reveal compositional controls on saline-surface crusts across a wet playa, Mojave Desert, with bearing on similar settings elsewhere. The compositions of chemically and isotopically distinctive shallow (<3 m) water masses are recorded in the composition of associated salts. In areas with deeper and more saline groundwater, however, not all ions are transported through the vadose zone. Retention of arsenic and other elements in the vadose zone diminishes the concentrations of potentially toxic elements in surface salts, but creates a reservoir of these elements that may be brought to the surface during wetter conditions or by human disturbance. Selective wind-erosion loss of sulfate salts was identified by the compositional contrast between surface salt crusts and underlying groundwater. At the sub-basin scale, compositional links exist among groundwater, salt crusts, and dust from wet playas. Across the study basin, however, lateral variations in groundwater and solid-salt compositions are produced by hydrogeologic heterogeneity.

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“…The third site, where strain AV-1 was isolated from, is an unnamed small pond in Armagosa Valley situated at Death Valley Junction near the border of Nevada and California. This seasonal alkaline pond probably results from underground water flowing through the alkaline desert uplands of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge [ 24 , 25 ] which is in close proximity. This pond is brackish with a salinity of 3 ppt and had a pH of 9.5 at the time of sampling.…”

Section: Alkaliphilic Magnetotactic Bacteriamentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetotactic Bacteria from Extreme Environments

Bazylinski

Lefèvre

2013

Life

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Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) represent a diverse collection of motile prokaryotes that biomineralize intracellular, membrane-bounded, tens-of-nanometer-sized crystals of a magnetic mineral called magnetosomes. Magnetosome minerals consist of either magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4) and cause cells to align along the Earth’s geomagnetic field lines as they swim, a trait called magnetotaxis. MTB are known to mainly inhabit the oxic–anoxic interface (OAI) in water columns or sediments of aquatic habitats and it is currently thought that magnetosomes function as a means of making chemotaxis more efficient in locating and maintaining an optimal position for growth and survival at the OAI. Known cultured and uncultured MTB are phylogenetically associated with the Alpha-, Gamma- and Deltaproteobacteria classes of the phylum Proteobacteria, the Nitrospirae phylum and the candidate division OP3, part of the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamydiae (PVC) bacterial superphylum. MTB are generally thought to be ubiquitous in aquatic environments as they are cosmopolitan in distribution and have been found in every continent although for years MTB were thought to be restricted to habitats with pH values near neutral and at ambient temperature. Recently, however, moderate thermophilic and alkaliphilic MTB have been described including: an uncultured, moderately thermophilic magnetotactic bacterium present in hot springs in northern Nevada with a probable upper growth limit of about 63 °C; and several strains of obligately alkaliphilic MTB isolated in pure culture from different aquatic habitats in California, including the hypersaline, extremely alkaline Mono Lake, with an optimal growth pH of >9.0.

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Identification of probable groundwater paths in the Amargosa Desert vicinity

Cited by 15 publications

References 8 publications

Isolation of obligately alkaliphilic magnetotactic bacteria from extremely alkaline environments

Isolation of obligately alkaliphilic magnetotactic bacteria from extremely alkaline environments

Controls on the chemical composition of saline surface crusts and emitted dust from a wet playa in the Mojave Desert (USA)

Magnetotactic Bacteria from Extreme Environments

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