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Precipitation of barite by marine bacteria: A possible mechanism for marine barite formation

2012; Geological Society of America; Volume: 40; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1130/g33006.1

1943-2682

María Teresa González‐Muñoz, Francisca Martı́nez-Ruiz, Fernando Morcillo, J.D. Martı́n-Ramos, Adina Paytan,

Bone and Dental Protein Studies

Research Article| August 01, 2012 Precipitation of barite by marine bacteria: A possible mechanism for marine barite formation M.T. Gonzalez-Muñoz; M.T. Gonzalez-Muñoz 1Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar F. Martinez-Ruiz; F. Martinez-Ruiz * 2Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), Avenida de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain *E-mail: fmruiz@ugr.es, fmruiz@iact.ugr-csic.es. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar F. Morcillo; F. Morcillo 1Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar J.D. Martin-Ramos; J.D. Martin-Ramos 3Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar A. Paytan A. Paytan 4Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California–Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information M.T. Gonzalez-Muñoz 1Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain F. Martinez-Ruiz * 2Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (CSIC-UGR), Avenida de las Palmeras 4, 18100 Armilla, Granada, Spain F. Morcillo 1Departamento de Microbiología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain J.D. Martin-Ramos 3Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología, Universidad de Granada, Campus Fuentenueva, 18002 Granada, Spain A. Paytan 4Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California–Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA *E-mail: fmruiz@ugr.es, fmruiz@iact.ugr-csic.es. Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 09 Nov 2011 Revision Received: 13 Feb 2012 Accepted: 15 Feb 2012 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 © 2012 Geological Society of America Geology (2012) 40 (8): 675–678. https://doi.org/10.1130/G33006.1 Article history Received: 09 Nov 2011 Revision Received: 13 Feb 2012 Accepted: 15 Feb 2012 First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation M.T. Gonzalez-Muñoz, F. Martinez-Ruiz, F. Morcillo, J.D. Martin-Ramos, A. Paytan; Precipitation of barite by marine bacteria: A possible mechanism for marine barite formation. Geology 2012;; 40 (8): 675–678. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G33006.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Barite (BaSO4) is found throughout the ocean, yet seawater is undersaturated with respect to barite, and organisms that could account for the abundance of barite have not yet been identified. The mechanism for barite formation in seawater is not fully understood. Here we show that marine bacteria have the ability to precipitate barite through a metabolically mediated biomineralization process. We precipitated barite in laboratory experiments in the presence of several strains of marine bacteria grown on yeast media enriched with barium (Ba); barite did not precipitate under identical conditions in killed-bacteria controls. The crystals develop from amorphous, phosphorous-rich spherical precursors with fibrous internal textures, common in bacterial mineral precipitation. Bacterial mediation of barite precipitation can explain the distribution of barite in the water column and the occurrence of barite crystals in organic-rich sinking aggregates where bacteria are concentrated. This finding has implications for the use of barite and Ba proxies in paleoceanographic research. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.