Hydraulically fractured shale fluids Metagenome. Hydraulically fractured shale fluids

As a result of fracturing, larger flow paths and newly exposed shale surfaces offer greater biogeochemical gradients for microbial colonization with greater opportunities for nutrient and genetic exchange. We know little about the indigenous microbial membership of Marcellus shale, but given current physicochemical conditions of this formation, we anticipate that organisms enriched during energy development will encode adaptations to these physical and geochemical conditions. PI Kelly Wrighton, The Ohio State University