Italy deep sulfidic aquifer field Targeted loci environmental

Deep caves in central Italy offer a unique opportunity to investigate the diversity of microoxic and anoxic microbial communities in sulfidic sedimentary aquifers 100-600 m below ground surface. We expect the proposed tag-enabled study to reveal the spatial distributions and redox/temperature niches of enigmatic Epsilonproteobacteria previously detected in extremely microoxic aquifer zones. We also expect to extend our understanding of a diverse anoxic aquifer community dominated by Deltaproteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and a large number of taxa in unnamed and novel clades. PI Jennifer L. Macalady, [e-mail], Pennsylvania State University