Soudan Mine Borehole communities Targeted Locus (Loci)

The Soudan Iron Mine is located on the Vermillion Iron Range in Northern Minnesota, just 20 miles west of Ely, MN. We have used a combination of 454 pyrotag sequencing and illumina to sequence the V4 region of the 16SrRNA gene from borehole microbial community DNA retrieved from a Banded Iron Formation at the Soudan Iron Mine, Minnesota (USA). The mine offers unique access to subsurface microbial communities across a wide range of geological, geochemical and hydrological conditions, including access to a deep subsurface, anoxic, iron-­-rich, CaCl2 brine located beneath the lowest level of the mine (713.5 m / 2341 feet). The brine seeps into the bottom level of the mine from a number of boreholes drilled just prior to its closing in the early 1960's.