HR: 11:35h
AN: B12A-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Can Environmental Microbes Mobilize and Oxidize Arsenic from Shale into Groundwater?
AU: Rhine, E
EM: drhi@novozymes.com
AF: Biotechnology Center, Rutgers University 59 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States
AU: Onesios, K M
EM: konios1@jhu.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University 14 College Farm Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States
AU: Serfes, M E
EM: Mike.Serfes@dep.state.nj.us
AF: New Jersey Geological Survey, P.O. Box 427, Trenton, NJ 08625, United States
AU: Reinfelder, J R
EM: reinfelder@envsci.rutgers.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University 14 College Farm Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States
AU: Shu, W
EM: wenyizhu@eden.rutgers.edu
AF: Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University 14 College Farm Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States
AU: * Young, L Y
EM: Lyoung@aesop.rutgers.edu
AF: Biotechnology Center, Rutgers University 59 Dudley Rd., New Brunswick, NJ 08901, United States
AB: Elevated levels of arsenic are found in New Jersey well water in the Newark Basin where 15% of the wells tested exceed 10 μg/L, to a maximum of 215 μg/L. The source may be from the weathering of pyrite (FeS₂) found in the black shale, which can contain up to 4% arsenic by weight. We hypothesize that microorganisms found in the environment can oxidize sulfide in the pyrite to release the bound arsenic, and in addition, that microbes can oxidize As(III) to As(V) to further enhance the mobilization of the arsenic released from the shale. To examine this, cultures were established with weathered black shale from an outcrop of the Newark Basin's Lockatong formation. A chemoautotrophic As(III)-oxidizer, strain WAO, was isolated, physiologically and phylogenetically characterized, and based on 16S rDNA sequence analysis it is most closely related to the genus Bosea. In the presence of the mineral arsenopyrite (FeAsS) strain WAO releases arsenic and sulfur with oxidation of stoichiometric amounts to arsenate and sulfate. Strain WAO also displays preferential colonization of the pyrite surface on sections of arsenic-bearing black shale from the Lockatong formation. These observations suggest that microbial mobilization can be a mechanism for arsenic release into groundwater in the Newark Basin and elsewhere as well.
DE: 0448 Geomicrobiology
DE: 0461 Metals
DE: 0463 Microbe/mineral interactions
DE: 0478 Pollution: urban, regional and global (0345, 4251)
DE: 0496 Water quality
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting