Subsurface Microbial Colonization at Mineral-Filled Veins in 2-Billion-Year-Old Igneous Rock from the Bushveld Complex, South Africa

Abstract

Recent advances in subsurface microbiology have demonstrated the habitability of multi-million-year-old igneous rocks, despite the scarce energy supply from rockwater interactions. Given the minimal evolution coupled with exceedingly slow metabolic rates in subsurface ecosystems, spatiotemporally stable igneous rocks can sustain microbes over geological time scales. This study investigated 2-billion-year-old igneous rock in the Bushveld Complex, South Africa, where ultradeep drilling is being executed by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). New procedures were successfully developed to simultaneously detect indigenous and contaminant microbial cells in a drill core sample. Precision rock sectioning coupled with infrared, fluorescence and electron microscopy imaging of the rock section with submicron resolution revealed microbial colonization in veins filled with smectite. The entry and exit of microbial cells in the veins are severely limited by tight packing with smectite, the formation of which supplies energy sources for long-term habitability. Further microbiological characterization of drilled rock cores from the Bushveld Complex will expand the understanding of microbial evolution in deep igneous rocks over 2 billion years.