Soudan Iron Mine marker gene sequencing
We used marker gene sequencing of microbial community DNA retrieved from a Banded Iron Formation at the Soudan Iron Mine, Minnesota USA. The mine offers unique access to subsurface microbial communities across a wide range of geological, geochemical and hydrological conditions, including access to a deep subsurface, anoxic, iron rich, CaCl2 brine located beneath the lowest level of the mine, 713.5 m or 2341 feet. The brine seeps into the bottom level of the mine from a number of boreholes drilled just prior to its closing in the early 1960s. Obtaining a thorough inventory of the microbial communities across a range of geochemical and geological conditions will help develop hypotheses regarding species distribution with depth and along geochemical gradients in a deep terrestrial ecosystem. PI, Jeffrey Gralnick, University of Minnesota. See also PRJNA340294 and PRJNA248749.