Sabkhas mudflat microbial mat Targeted loci environmental

Sabkhas (salt flats in Arabic) are coastal ecosystems in arid regions characterized by high salinity and periodic flooding. The extreme environments of sabkhas serve as a refuge for unique microbes and are often considered analogs of possible life on Mars. Understanding spatial microbial and mineralogical successions provides a valuable tool for the palaeogeological interpretation of fossilized structures The main objective of this study is to shed light on an interplay between microbes in layers of sediment structures at the sabkhas surface and mineralized laminae. The surface of the intertidal Dohat Faishakh Sabkha, located on Qatar's northeastern coast, consisting of microbial mats and mineral laminae, was investigated at high spatial resolution. The samples from multiple sediment layers were collected from the upper 6 cm of the sabkha's surface at a resolution of millimetres The bacterial diversity was investigated at a millimetre (mm) resolution using 16S rRNA sequencing.

萨布哈盐碱滩（Sabkhas，阿拉伯语原意为盐滩）是干旱地区的滨海生态系统，以高盐度与周期性淹水为典型特征。这类极端环境为独特微生物提供了天然庇护所，同时也常被视作火星潜在生命的类比研究载体。解析空间尺度下的微生物与矿物演替序列，可为古地质领域的化石构造解释提供极具价值的研究工具。本研究的核心目标，是阐明萨布哈滩表层沉积构造层内微生物与矿化纹层之间的相互作用机制。位于卡塔尔东北海岸的潮间带多海特费沙赫萨布哈滩（Dohat Faishakh Sabkha），其表层覆盖有微生物席与矿化纹层，本研究以高空间分辨率对其展开了调查。研究以毫米级分辨率，从该滩涂表层0至6厘米的深度范围内，采集了多沉积层位的样品。随后采用16S rRNA测序技术，以毫米级分辨率解析了其中的细菌多样性。