Distribution of aerobic bacteria, protozoa, algae, and fungi in deep subsurface sediments

Abstract

The distribution of microorganisms in deep subsurface profiles was determined at three sites at the Savannah River Plant, Aiken, South Carolina. Acridine orange direct counts (AODC) of bacteria were highest in surface soil samples and declined to the 10⁶ to 10⁷ per gram range in the subsurface, but then did not decline further with depth. In the subsurface, AODC values varied from layer to layer, the highest being found in samples from sandy aquifer formations and the lowest in clayey interbed layers. Sandy aquifer sediments also contained the highest numbers of viable bacteria as determined by aerobic spread plate counts (CFU) on a dilute heterotrophic medium. In some of these samples bacterial CFU values approached 100% of the AODC values. Viable protozoa (amoebae and flagellates, but no ciliates) were found in samples with high bacterial CFU values. A variety of green algae, phytoflagellates, diatoms, and a few cyanobacteria were found at low population densities in samples from two of the three boreholes. Low numbers of fungi were evenly distributed throughout the profiles at all three sites. Microbial population density estimates correlated positively with sand content and pore‐water pH, and negatively with clay content and pore‐water metal concentration. A large diversity of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms was found in samples with high population densities. A survey of bacterial strains isolated from subsurface samples revealed associations of gram‐positive bacteria with high clay sediments and gram‐negative bacteria with sandy sediments. The ability to deposit lipophilic storage material (presumably poly‐ß‐hydroxybutyrate) was found in a high proportion of isolates from sandy sediments, but only rarely in isolates from high clay sediments.