North Pond crustal fluid metagenomes 2017

Mid-ocean ridge flanks are composed of geologically young (1-65 million year old) rock and make up 75% of the ocean floor. Ocean crustal fluid (water circulating through ocean crust) accounts for 1-2% of the total ocean volume, or about 1.35-27 million trillion liters of water. North Pond is an isolated sediment pond on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, underlain by basaltic rock and a cold, oxygenated aquifer that chemically resembles seawater. The microbial populations that inhabit this crustal fluid, however, are distinct from those in the ocean above. This project examines the taxonomy and genetic capability of the microbial communities inhabiting the crustal fluids beneath North Pond.