Microbial communities of sub-seafloor sediments in the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic deep-biosphere with the ARA02B/GC

Microbial life in the sub-seafloor (deep-biosphere), located at least 1 m below seafloor (mbsf), is one of the most extensive microbial habitats on Earth, and has been largely explored. Investigations of sub-seafloor microbiology in the world’s oceans demonstrated that trapped and buried microbes in the subsurface sediments would employ strategies of high biomass and low growth rates in response to the sedimentation rate. It means that a specific sediment layer may harbor a local microbial assemblage.