Hellisheidi aquifer Metagenome

Our research group has been monitoring the microbial diversity of the basalt hosted aquifer of Hellisheidi, SW Iceland, through a series of deep and shallow monitoring wells since 2008. The Hellisheidi site has different strategically located wells, used by Reykjavik Energy, the operator of the associated geothermal plant that has been performing CO 2 and CO 2 H 2 H 2 S injections at a depth of 400 to 800 m and temperatures up to 80C as mitigation strategy for its main waste products. Before injections were performed, different tests were done in order to assess the feasibility of the project, including the injection of tracers. Besides the massive sequencing techniques, culture based approaches are also of high interest to assess these questions. They would allow performing reproducible physiologic and activity assays, but also genomic studies and provide understanding on ecophysiological properties and potential interactions between species. The goal of this project is the sequencing of the genomes of this strain, HN4 s8. PI Rosalia Trias, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris.