Austin Hot Spring Targeted loci environmental

Hot spring environments have been the focus of numerous investigations targeting their strong geochemical gradients, diverse microbial ecology, and extreme geochemical niches. However, one overlooked aspect of hot springs is that they also represent the focus of persistent fluxes of deep subsurface fluids into the surface environment. As such, hot springs, like their hydrothermal vent equivalents, are a key location of mixing between the subsurface biosphere and the terrestrial surface environment. The work proposed here will help describe the composition and dynamics of one hot spring system and will address questions such as how subsurface microbes mix with and influence surface ecosystems, and how these mixing relationships may affect the carbon cycle. We will begin by targeting a hot spring system in the Cascades Mountain Range, Oregon. This pilot project focused on Austin Hot Spring, Oregon is intended to be the first step in a larger study of the microbial communities and carbon cycling in multiple hot springs along the Cascades Range. We will assess the community composition of samples associated with hot springs fluids and the influence that these subsurface microorganisms have in the surficial riverine environment into which they mix. PI Rosa Leon Zayas [e-mail]