Alaska pyrite sun precursor formations in proglacial mudflats Metagenome
We hypothesize that the first steps in pyrite sun formation are occurring in mudflats of proglacial Alaska, with cyanobacterial mats trapping glacier silts within extracellular polymeric substances where microbial communities interact with allochthonous hydrocarbons, sulfur, and iron to precipitate amorphous iron sulfide minerals. We compared pyrite sun morphology with pyrite sun precursor formations, used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to investigate putative pyrite-forming bacteria, and determined iron content and mineralogy using XRD and sequential iron extraction of Matanuska Glacier mudflats sampled in June 2023.