7.2 DONG Hailiang

Deep Biosphere Research in China: Opportunities and Challenges

Hailiang Dong

China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China &

Miami University, Oxford, OH, 45056

The last two decades have seen extraordinary growth of Geomicrobiology, an interdisciplinary field between Geology and Microbiology. Microorganisms have been studied in numerous extreme environments on Earth, ranging from crystalline rocks from the deep subsurface, hypersaline lakes, to hot springs, and deep-ocean hydrothermal vent systems. This talk will provide a review on global deep biosphere research with an emphasis on China. The talk will start by introducing the history of deep biosphere research in China, e.g., Chinese Continental Scientific Deep Drilling project and then transition to current research activities, e.g., establishment of multi-well deep underground laboratory in Songliao Basin eastern China. The talk will then place these results in a global context by presenting the latest estimates of continental biomass and diversity in correlation with geological and geochemical conditions. Lastly, the talk will provide some future perspectives in deep life research such as heterogeneous microbial distribution in subsurface, metabolic rate measurement and energy availability, and syntrophic communication among different species of a microbial community as well as between minerals and microbes. Finally, we will provide some perspectives on potential applications of unique subsurface microbial species and gene libraries for renewable energy and environmental cleanup.