Analysis of Bacteria and Archaea in Lateral Transects of Two Tailings Ponds Using 16S rRNA Gene Pyrosequencing

Surface mining of oil sand ores produces extraction tailings: a slurry of water, sand, silt and clay particles, unrecovered bitumen and a small proportion of hydrocarbon solvent used during extraction. After deposition in tailings ponds, the tailings settle by gravity to produce anaerobic mature fine tailings (MFT) that typically become methanogenic, with the primary source of biogenic methane apparently being residual solvent hydrocarbons in the MFT. As one component of the Hydrocarbon Metagenomics Project, we have used 454 FLX pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons (‘16S pyrotags’) to profile the phylogenetic diversity of MFT samples collected from depth profiles along six lateral transects of two tailing ponds. This research was supported by funding from Genome Canada, Genome Alberta, the Government of Alberta and Genome BC.