Elements Magazine Past Issues

Studies of mineral–microbe interactions lie at the heart of the emerging field of geomicrobiology, because minerals are the fundamental Earth materials with which microbes interact. Microbes are found in a number of the Earth’s extreme environments and also in extraterrestrial materials. In spite of the diverse geological environments in which microbes are found and the various approaches taken to study them, a common thread—mineral–microbe interactions—connects all these environments and experimental approaches and places them under the same umbrella: geomicrobiology. Minerals provide microbes with energy and living habitats, and microbes impact mineral weathering and diagenesis. The recognition of mineral–microbe interactions has revived the classical discipline of mineralogy, and microbes discovered in various habitats have provided microbiologists with unique opportunities for study. This issue considers microbially mediated mineral dissolution, precipitation, and transformation, and the synergistic relation between minerals and microbes for energy acquisition. These interactions have important implications for contaminant remediation.