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Seasonal Variability of Mineral Formation in Microbial Mats Subjected to Drying and Wetting Cycles in Alkaline and Hypersaline Sedimentary Environments

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Abstract

Interactions of the microbial mat community with the sedimentary environment were evaluated in two shallow, ephemeral lakes with markedly different hydrochemistry and mineralogy. The characterization of growing and decaying microbial mats by light microscopy observations and fluorescence in situ hybridization was complemented with biogeochemical and mineralogical measurements. The lakes studied were Eras and Altillo Chica, both located in Central Spain and representing poly-extreme environments. Lake Eras is a highly alkaline, brackish to saline lake containing a high concentration of chloride, and in which the carbonate concentration exceeds the sulfate concentration. The presence of magnesium is crucial for the precipitation of hydromagnesite in microbialites of this lake. Altillo Chica is a mesosaline to hypersaline playa lake with high concentrations of sulfate and chloride, favoring the formation of gypsum microbialites. Differences in the microbial community composition and mineralogy of the microbialites between the two lakes were primarily controlled by alkalinity and salinity. Lake Eras was dominated by the cyanobacterial genus Oscillatoria, as well as Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Firmicutes. When the mat decayed, Alphaproteobacteria and Deltaproteobacteria increased and became the dominant heterotrophs, as opposed to Firmicutes. In contrast, Deltaproteobacteria was the most abundant group in Lake Altillo Chica, where desiccation led to mats decay during evaporite formation. In addition to Deltaproteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were found in Altillo Chica, mostly during microbial mats growth. At both sites, microbial mats favored the precipitation of sulfate and carbonate minerals. The precipitation of carbonate is higher in the soda lake due to a stronger alkalinity engine and probably a higher degradation rate of exopolymeric substances. Our findings clarify the distribution patterns of microbial community composition in ephemeral lakes at the levels of whole communities, which were subjected to environmental conditions similar to those that may have existed during early Earth.

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Acknowledgements

This research work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competivity, National Project CGL2015-66455-R (MINECO-FEDER). We wish to thank all the members of Project CGL2015-66455-R for their assistance. We wish to thank Claudia Beimfohr from Vermicon for clarifying the FISH analyses. We appreciate the time and effort of the Editor George Luther and three anonymous referees whose contributions improved this manuscript. This publication is part of the Scientific Activities of Research Group UCM-910404. PTV acknowledges support from NSF-EAR award 1561173. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Petrology and Geochemistry, Faculty of Geological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, José Antonio Novais, 12, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    Ó. Cabestrero & M. E. Sanz-Montero

  2. Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, José Antonio Novais, 12, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    L. Arregui & S. Serrano

  3. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    P. T. Visscher

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  1. Ó. Cabestrero
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Correspondence to Ó. Cabestrero.

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Cabestrero, Ó., Sanz-Montero, M.E., Arregui, L. et al. Seasonal Variability of Mineral Formation in Microbial Mats Subjected to Drying and Wetting Cycles in Alkaline and Hypersaline Sedimentary Environments. Aquat Geochem 24, 79–105 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10498-018-9333-2

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