@article {Simkus2016264,
	title = {Variations in microbial carbon sources and cycling in the deep continental subsurface},
	journal = {Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta},
	volume = {173},
	year = {2016},
	pages = {264 - 283},
	abstract = {Abstract Deep continental subsurface fracture water systems, ranging from 1.1 to 3.3 km below land surface (kmbls), were investigated to characterize the indigenous microorganisms and elucidate microbial carbon sources and their cycling. Analysis of phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) abundances and direct cell counts detected varying biomass that was not correlated with depth. Compound-specific carbon isotope analyses (δ13C and Δ14C) of the phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) and carbon substrates combined with genomic analyses did identify, however, distinct carbon sources and cycles between the two depth ranges studied. In the shallower boreholes at circa 1 kmbls, isotopic evidence indicated microbial incorporation of biogenic \{CH4\} by the in situ microbial community. At the shallowest site, 1.05 kmbls in Driefontein mine, this process clearly dominated the isotopic signal. At slightly deeper depths, 1.34 kmbls in Beatrix mine, the isotopic data indicated the incorporation of both biogenic \{CH4\} and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) derived from \{CH4\} oxidation. In both of these cases, molecular genetic analysis indicated that methanogenic and methanotrophic organisms together comprised a small component (\&lt;5\%) of the microbial community. Thus, it appears that a relatively minor component of the prokaryotic community is supporting a much larger overall bacterial community in these samples. In the samples collected from \&gt;3 kmbls in Tau Tona mine (TT107, \{TT109\} Bh2), the \{CH4\} had an isotopic signature suggesting a predominantly abiogenic origin with minor inputs from microbial methanogenesis. In these samples, the isotopic enrichments (δ13C and Δ14C) of the \{PLFAs\} relative to \{CH4\} were consistent with little incorporation of \{CH4\} into the biomass. The most 13C-enriched \{PLFAs\} were observed in \{TT107\} where the dominant CO2-fixation pathway was the acetyl-CoA pathway by non-acetogenic bacteria. The differences in the δ13C of the \{PLFAs\} and the \{DIC\} and \{DOC\} for \{TT109\} Bh2 were \~{}-24{\textperthousand} and 0{\textperthousand}, respectively. The dominant CO2-fixation pathways were 3-HP/4-HB cycle \&gt; acetyl-CoA pathway \&gt; reductive pentose phosphate cycle.},
	issn = {0016-7037},
	doi = {http://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2015.10.003},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016703715005852},
	author = {Danielle N. Simkus and Greg F. Slater and Barbara Sherwood Lollar and Kenna Wilkie and Thomas L. Kieft and Cara Magnabosco and Maggie C.Y. Lau and Michael J. Pullin and Sarah B. Hendrickson and K. Eric Wommack and Eric G. Sakowski and Esta van Heerden and Olukayode Kuloyo and Borja Linage and Gaetan Borgonie and Tullis C. Onstott}
}
