Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 6, Issue 32, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba0697
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Funding
- NSF [OCE-0939564]
- Deep Carbon Observatory [Deep Life Modelling and Visualization (DLMV) program]
- NASA Astrobiology Institute-Life Underground (NAI-LU) [NNA13AA92A]
- NASA Astrobiology Program under the Joint NASA-NSF Ideas Lab on the Origins of Life [NSF Solicitation 16-570]
- Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
- NERC [NE/T010967/1]
- European Union [643052]
- USC Zumberge Fund Individual Grant Program
- Deep Carbon Observatory [Deep Energy program]
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Microbial cells buried in subseafloor sediments comprise a substantial portion of Earth's biosphere and control global biogeochemical cycles; however, the rate at which they use energy (i.e., power) is virtually unknown. Here, we quantify organic matter degradation and calculate the power utilization of microbial cells throughout Earth's Quaternary-age subseafloor sediments. Aerobic respiration, sulfate reduction, and methanogenesis mediate 6.9, 64.5, and 28.6% of global subseafloor organic matter degradation, respectively. The total power utilization of the subseafloor sediment biosphere is 37.3 gigawatts, less than 0.1% of the power produced in the marine photic zone. Aerobic heterotrophs use the largest share of global power (54.5%) with a median power utilization of 2.23 x 10(-18) watts per cell, while sulfate reducers and methanogens use 1.08 x 10(-19) and 1.50 x 10(-20) watts per cell, respectively. Most subseafloor cells subsist at energy fluxes lower than have previously been shown to support life, calling into question the power limit to life.
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