Science Inventory

Surface and subsurface coal environments – From environmental formation and chemistry to microbial communities

Citation:

Marks, C. AND A. Callaghan. Surface and subsurface coal environments – From environmental formation and chemistry to microbial communities. Edition 2, Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology Series Microbial Communities Utilizing Hydrocarbons and Lipids: Members, Metagenomics and Ecophysiology. Springer International Publishing AG, Cham (ZG), Switzerland, , 1-23, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60063-5_9-1

Impact/Purpose:

Submitting book chapter to the "Handbook of Hydrocarbon and Lipid Microbiology (2nd Edition)."

Description:

Coal and coal-extracts fuel a large portion of global trade by contributing to industries in energy production, infrastructure development, and chemical/material processing. The mining and recovery of these resources have tremendous economic and environmental impacts in coal-rich nations. Coal-associated habitats (e.g. coalbeds, coal mines, and spoil heaps) are highly complex ecosystems that support a diverse array of microbial life and biogeochemical processes influenced by ancient and near-term hydrogeological properties. Subsurface formation waters support syntrophic assemblages of Bacteria and Archaea that cooperatively mineralize coalderived organic material to form coalbed methane. Spoil heaps of surface-extraction wastes contribute large masses of toxic metals and sulphide-rich minerals to top soils and aquatic habitats, driving microbial redox cycles that promote acidification and metal leaching. Microbiology is therefore, intricately linked to the coal industry and plays critical roles in aspects ranging from production to remediation.