Microbial Succession Signals the Initiation of Acidification in Mining Wastewaters
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Microbial Succession Signals the Initiation of Acidification in Mining Wastewaters David Camacho1 · Gerdhard L. Jessen2,4 · Jiro F. Mori2,5 · Simon C. Apte3 · Chad V. Jarolimek3 · Lesley A. Warren1,2 Received: 26 January 2020 / Accepted: 1 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract We characterized the sulfur geochemistry and microbial community structure of seven circumneutral wastewaters from two Canadian nickel mines collected in summer, winter, and spring, in 2014 and 2015. We also established and characterized sulfur oxidizing enrichments for these wastewater samples in two pH corrals of 7–5 and 5–3. Mine 1 exhibited lower contents of total soluble sulfur compounds and reactive soluble sulfur compounds (oxidation state 80%) in the moderately acidic enrichment communities. A further pH dependent shift occurred from Halothiobacillus spp. dominating the pH 7–5 enrichments to Thiomonas spp. dominating the pH 5–3 enrichments. These results provide putative biological indicators for better prediction and management of sulfur processes and AMD onset in mining wastewaters. Keywords Biological indicator · Sulfur oxidation · Microbial · Enrichments · Proteobacteria
Introduction
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-020-00711-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Lesley A. Warren [email protected] 1
School of Geography and Earth Science, Faculty of Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
2
Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
3
CSIRO, Land and Water, Lucas Heights, NSW 2234, Australia
4
Present Address: Institute of Marine and Limnological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, University Austral of Chile, Valdivia, Chile
5
Present Address: Graduate School of Nanobiosciences, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan
Acid mine drainage (AMD) is strongly enhanced by microbial sulfur oxidation/disproportionation, which can result in high concentrations of H + and metal ions, leading to severe environmental impacts (Lindsay et al. 2015; Sheoran and Sheoran 2006). Research primarily on waste rock (i.e. unprocessed overburden) associated AMD geomicrobiology has shown that iron and sulfur oxidizing organisms dominate most of these acidic sites (Baker and Banfield 2003; Cowie et al. 2009; Druschel et al. 2004; Moncur et al. 2015; Schippers and Sand 1999; Schippers et al. 2010; Sheoran and Sheoran 2006; Tyson et al. 2004). The prevalent organisms include chemotrophic bacteria and some archaea, e.g. iron oxidizing bacteria of the genera, Leptosprillium and Acidithiobacillus, and archaea, Ferroplasma, and other Thermoplasmatales (Druschel et al. 2004; Huang et al. 2011; Tyson et al. 2004), as well as sulfur oxidizing Proteobacteria, comprised mainly of Gammaproteobacteria including the genus (Acidithiobacillus), Alphaproteobacteria (
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