Groundwater Microbiology

Aligned with the Energy Research Strategy’s DEEP theme “Extract with Minimal Environmental Impact”, Grand Challenge “Cumulative Effects of Energy Related Processes”, and the Faculty of Science Grand Challenges “Understanding Earth’s Evolving Systems” and “Energy in Transition”, and the GRI Theme 2 Grand Challenge 4 “Enabling small footprint recovery from low-permeability reservoirs”, and Alberta Research and Innovation Framework (ARIF) aim “Environmental Stewardship and Climate Leadership”.

Collaborations with Department of Bioscience: Casey Hubert. Department of Geoscience: Bernhard Mayer, Cathryn Ryan. Government of Alberta: Cynthia McClain. Alberta Geological Survey: Dan Palombi. Marine Biology Laboratory (USA): Emil Ruff. University of California: Jillian Banfield.

This project is about geospatial variability in Alberta groundwater and focuses on contaminants that impact human, livestock and ecosystem health. The objective is to determine the occurrence, origin and turnover of contaminants in the context of the structured subsurface environment. Selected contaminants with potential microbial turnover are methane, ethane, propane, nitrate, manganese, iron, sulfate and sulfide, selenium and fluoride. The approach consists of combining geochemical and metagenomics/proteomics analyses for 180 to 270 samples from Groundwater Observation Well Network monitoring wells throughout Alberta. This is leading to a rich dataset, unique worldwide in scale and scope.

In addition to studying correlations in groundwater samples, our team also supports this research with laboratory growth experiments. These experiments target widely distributed but enigmatic microbes, such as those affiliated with the Candidate Phyla Radiation, as well as enigmatic microbial processes, such as biological production of ethane and propane. Similar laboratory mesocosm experiments have previously contributed to the understanding of methane oxidation in a controlled field release experiment. Microbial methane oxidation could potentially play a role in remediation of stray gas, which can enter aquifers from leaking well-bores or during hydraulic fracturing. Microbes affiliated with the Candidate Phyla Radiation have been shown to prey on other microbes and could play a role in controlling harmful microbes such as pathogens or those involved in microbially influenced corrosion. Too little is known at present about these microbes to fully understand their potential applications, but their presently unknown biology is clearly relevant to the groundwater environment.