Advances in Earth Science ›› 2005, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (12): 1306-1313. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2005.12.1306

• Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

PROGRESSES IN THE STUDIES OF SUBSEAFLOOR DEEP BIOSPHERE MICROORGANISMS

DANG Hongyue, SONG Linsheng, LI Tiegang, QIN Yunshan   

  1. Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China
  • Received:2004-11-02 Revised:2005-07-18 Online:2005-12-25 Published:2005-12-25

DANG Hongyue, SONG Linsheng, LI Tiegang, QIN Yunshan. PROGRESSES IN THE STUDIES OF SUBSEAFLOOR DEEP BIOSPHERE MICROORGANISMS[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2005, 20(12): 1306-1313.

Because of extreme environmental conditions, limited organic carbon input and long term of burial and diagenesis, deep sea subsurface sediments were regarded as a huge ‘desert’ not being able to support any life-form. This was challenged by the DSDP and ODP deep drilling practices. One of the most significant findings of ODP is the discovery of the widely-distributed microbiological biosphere in the deeply buried sediments and upper oceanic crusts of the world oceans. A series of studies demonstrated that the subseafloor deep biosphere harbors a huge biomass, a great biological and molecular diversity, and a series of complicated and diverse physio-ecological functions and processes. The study of the deep subseafloor bioshphere microorganisms becomes the foci of the studies of life origin and evolution, earth system evolution and transformation, global climate change, and marine life resource biotechnology.

No related articles found!
Viewed
Full text


Abstract