A Combined Molecular and Isotopic Study of Sulfur Bacteria in Meromictic Lakes of the Pacific Northwest

Abstract

The isotope effects that result from the activity of modern sulfur metabolizing bacteria serve as analogs to interpreting the sulfur isotope values preserved in the geologic record. This biogenic signal is vital to reconstructing the history of Earth’s ancient oceans and atmosphere. However, the isotope compositions imprinted by these bacteria were influenced by multiple factors that must be considered when using these values to make interpretations about environmental change. These factors include: (1) sulfate availability, (2) the rapid and quantitative reoxidation of sulfide (i.e., cryptic sulfur cycling), (3) the initial oxygen isotope compositions of sulfate and water, and (4) the taxonomic structure of sulfur-metabolizing bacterial communities. To address these questions, this project studied four permanently stratified, anoxic and sulfidic (euxinic), lakes in southern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Washington, USA, that have a wide range of sulfate concentrations, from 0.15 – 120 mM. This project resulted in six key findings – (1) the measurement of large Δ34SSO4-H2S values at micromolar sulfate concentrations, (2) the consistent occurrence of δ18OSO4 minima at the chemocline that may be imparted during cryptic sulfur cycling, (3) that subsequent δ18OSO4 enrichments consistently preceded sulfide accumulation and δ34SSO4 enrichment in the suboxic zone of the water column, (4) that initial epilimnion Δ18OSO4-H2O values placed constraints on the maximum extent of δ18OSO4 evolution that occurred beneath the chemocline, (5) that observable changes in the metabolic composition of sulfur bacterial communities accompanied key inflections in the sulfur and oxygen isotope profiles of sulfate and sulfide within the water column, and (6) that, despite large overall differences in community structure, Δ34SSO4-H2S and Δ18OSO4-H2O values ultimately reached similar magnitudes in each lake.