Microbial communities in fluid inclusions and long-term survival in halite

[摘要] Fluid inclusions in modern and ancient buriedhalite from DeathValley and Saline Valley, California, USA, contain an ecosystem of“salt-loving” (halophilic) prokaryotes and eukaryotes, some of which are alive. Prokaryotes may survive insidefluid inclusions for tens of thousands of years using carbon and other metabolites supplied by the trapped microbial community, most notably the single-celledalga Dunaliella, an important primary producer in hypersaline systems.Deeper understanding of the long-term survival of prokaryotes in fluidinclusions will complement studies that further explore microbial life on Earthand elsewhere in the solar system, where materials that potentially harbormicroorganisms are millions and even billions of years old.

[学科分类] 地质学

[关键词] Fire safety;fatal fires;smoke alarms