Exceptional preservation of fungi as H2-bearing fluid inclusions in an Early Quaternary paleo-hydrothermal system at Cape Vani, Milos, Greece

Ivarsson, Magnus; Kilias, Stephanos; Broman, Curt; Neubeck, Anna; Drake, Henrik; Chi Fru, Ernest; Bengtson, Stefan; Naden, Jonathan; Detsi, Kleopatra; Whitehouse, Martin. 2019 Exceptional preservation of fungi as H2-bearing fluid inclusions in an Early Quaternary paleo-hydrothermal system at Cape Vani, Milos, Greece. Minerals, 9 (12), 749. https://doi.org/10.3390/min9120749

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/min9120749

Abstract/Summary

The production of H2 in hydrothermal systems and subsurface settings is almost exclusively assumed a result of abiotic processes, particularly serpentinization of ultramafic rocks. The origin of H2 in environments not hosted in ultramafic rocks is, as a rule, unjustifiably linked to abiotic processes. Additionally, multiple microbiological processes among both prokaryotes and eukaryotes are known to involve H2-production, of which anaerobic fungi have been put forward as a potential source of H2 in subsurface environments, which is still unconfirmed. Here, we report fungal remains exceptionally preserved as fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz from feeder quartz-barite veins from the Cape Vani Fe-Ba-Mn ore on the Greek island of Milos. The inclusions possess filamentous or near-spheroidal morphologies interpreted as remains of fungal hyphae and spores, respectively. They were characterized by microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy, and staining of exposed inclusions with WGA-FITC under fluorescence microscopy. The spheroidal aqueous inclusions interpreted as fungal spores are unique by their coating of Mn-oxide birnessite, and gas phase H2. A biological origin of the H2 resulting from anaerobic fungal respiration is suggested. We propose that biologically produced H2 by micro-eukaryotes is an unrecognized source of H2 in hydrothermal systems that may support communities of H2-dependent prokaryotes

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.3390/min9120749
ISSN:	2075-163X
Date made live:	06 Feb 2020 14:57 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526762

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.3390/min9120749

ISSN:

2075-163X

Date made live:

06 Feb 2020 14:57 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526762