Crustal mineralogy drives microbe diversity beneath Earth s surface
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Researchers pictured from left to right, Lily Momper, Brittany Kruger and Caitlin Casar pose next to a borehole in an abandoned mine in South Dakota where they cultivated microbial biofilms. Photo by Matt Kapust
April 8 (UPI) Deep beneath the surface of the earth, microbes proliferate without sunlight and oxygen eating and breathing minerals, these microbes colonize the rocks that buoy the planet s continents.
For obvious reason, scientists don t know a lot about these microbes, but researchers estimate they account for anywhere between 20 and 80 percent of Earth s bacterial and archaeal biomass.
Investment in Mining and Materials Education at South Dakota Mines Will Show Huge Returns
Liangping
Li, Ph.D., and Bill Roggenthen, Ph.D., two faculty in the Department of Geology
and Geological Engineering at South Dakota Mines, discuss the SIGMA-V geothermal
energy experiment at the Sanford Underground Research Facility.
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South
Dakota Mines was founded 136 years ago to support the mining and mineral industries.
Today, the core disciplines of geological, metallurgical and mining engineering
remain an integral part of South Dakota’s economy. Mining alone has a $2.5
billion annual impact on the state. We believe South Dakota Mines has an
opportunity to emerge as an epicenter of new technology, serving not only to