Exploring Novel Interactions Between Microbes and Minerals
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Mineralogy and Biogeochemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2025 | Viewed by 252
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Minerals are defined as inorganic, crystalline solids that form in many natural environments as a result of abiotic geochemical processes. Yet, for a wide variety of surface and near-surface environments on Earth, mineral formation occurs as a combination of both abiotic and biotic processes. Minerals provide energetically favorable substrates for microbes to establish communities in the form of biofilms or microbial mats; their metabolic processes, along with the cycling of decaying organic matter, result in cation and metal exchange between the microbes and minerals. This exchange induces changes to the chemical environment, which results in the formation of secondary minerals, such as clays, Fe-oxides/hydroxides, carbonates, or sulfates, on the original mineral substrates through bioweathering or on microbial materials through biomineralization. The minerals may incorporate microbial compounds within their structure or preserve morphologic features, such as microfossils. The microbial overprint on minerals in the rock record can become obscured depending on environmental conditions, making it challenging to discern biotic from abiotic minerals. To facilitate the distinction in their origins, a wide variety of laboratory and analytical techniques have been employed to study the surficial, structural, and chemical characteristics of the minerals as well as the metabolisms and organic compounds that are involved. Understanding the types of microbial signatures that are incorporated in minerals and how they evolve is essential for reconstructing past environments, understanding how compounds are cycled in the environment, and acknowledging what traces of life could be detectable on planetary bodies beyond Earth.
Dr. Dina M. Bower
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- bioweathering
- biomineralization
- biogeochemistry
- microbial mats
- biofilms
- secondary minerals
- microfossils
- metabolisms
- biotic
- abiotic
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