TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jroundi, F.
AU  - Descostes, M.
AU  - Povedano-Priego, C.
AU  - Sánchez-Castro, I.
AU  - Suvannagan, V.
AU  - Grizard, P.
AU  - Merroun, M. L.
PY  - 2020//
TI  - Profiling native aquifer bacteria in a uranium roll-front deposit and their role in biogeochemical cycle dynamics: Insights regarding in situ recovery mining
JO  - Science of The Total Environment
SP  - 137758
VL  - 721
KW  - Bacterial diversity
KW  - Bioremediation
KW  - In-situ recovery
KW  - Natural attenuation
KW  - Network analysis
KW  - Uranium
N2  - A uranium-mineralized sandy aquifer, planned for mining by means of uranium in situ recovery (U ISR), harbors a reservoir of bacterial life that may influence the biogeochemical cycles surrounding uranium roll-front deposits. Since microorganisms play an important role at all stages of U ISR, a better knowledge of the resident bacteria before any ISR actuations is essential to face environmental quality assessment. The focus here was on the characterization of bacteria residing in an aquifer surrounding a uranium roll-front deposit that forms part of an ISR facility project at Zoovch Ovoo (Mongolia). Water samples were collected following the natural redox zonation inherited in the native aquifer, including the mineralized orebody, as well as compartments located both upstream (oxidized waters) and downstream (reduced waters) of this area. An imposed chemical zonation for all sensitive redox elements through the roll-front system was observed. In addition, high-throughput sequencing data showed that the bacterial community structure was shaped by the redox gradient and oxygen availability. Several interesting bacteria were identified, including sulphate-reducing (e.g. Desulfovibrio, Nitrospira), iron-reducing (e.g. Gallionella, Sideroxydans), iron-oxidizing (e.g. Rhodobacter, Albidiferax, Ferribacterium), and nitrate-reducing bacteria (e.g. Pseudomonas, Aquabacterium), which may also be involved in metal reduction (e.g. Desulfovibrio, Ferribacterium, Pseudomonas, Albidiferax, Caulobacter, Zooglea). Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and co-occurrence patterns confirmed strong correlations among the bacterial genera, suggesting either shared/preferred environmental conditions or the performance of similar/complementary functions. As a whole, the bacterial community residing in each aquifer compartment would appear to define an ecologically functional ecosystem, containing suitable microorganisms (e.g. acidophilic bacteria) prone to promote the remediation of the acidified aquifer by natural attenuation. Assessing the composition and structure of the aquifer’s native bacteria is a prerequisite for understanding natural attenuation and predicting the role of bacterial input in improving ISR efficiency.
SN  - 0048-9697
UR  - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969720312699
N1  - exported from refbase (http://www.uhydro.de/base/show.php?record=177), last updated on Fri, 26 Jan 2024 13:19:04 +0100
ID  - Jroundi_etal2020
ER  -