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Water
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Research on the Role of Microorganisms in Subsurface Contaminated Aquifers
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Research on the Role of Microorganisms in Subsurface Contaminated Aquifers

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2022) | Viewed by 6241

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Geoffrey J. Puzon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, Australia
Interests: drinking water distribution microbiology; biofilm; amoebae; managed aquifer recharge; microbial ecology; microbial community analysis; metabolomics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ka Yu Cheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CSIRO Land and Water, Perth, Australia
Interests: biological treatment of municipal and industrial waste streams; biodegradation of contaminants and bioremediation of contaminated sites; sensors for monitoring biofilm formation; microbial electrochemical reactor technologies; mining biotechnology; resource recovery
Dr. Anna H. Kaksonen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
Interests: biocorrosion; bioelectrochemistry; bioflotation; biogeochemistry; bioleaching; biomining; biooxidation; bioprecipitation; bioreduction; bioremediation; circular economy; resource recovery; waste management; wastewater treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Contaminated subsurface aquifers remain poorly characterized in terms of understanding the roles microorganisms play in biogeochemical processes. While we are restricted by our ability to cultivate and test the vast majority of microbes, omics based approaches (Genomics, Transcriptomics, Proteomic and Metabolomics) are rapidly expanding our understanding of the complex microbial communities and their potential functions in these ecosystems. The application of omics based approaches offers the potential to better identify and characterise the microbial processes, which in turn can be used to develop better bioremediation methods and improved modeling of contaminted sites.

The special issue aims to provide further understanding of the role of microbes in contaminated subsurface aquifers with an emphasis on the application of new omics based methods to characterise the microbial community composition, the effect of contaminant(s) on the microbial community and the role/fucntion of the microbes in remediation processes.

Types of contaminants (both legacy and recent) that are of particular interest in this Special Issue include:

  • Persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
  • Emerging contaminants, e.g., PFAS (Polyfluorinated alkyl substances)
  • Radionuclides e.g., uranium
  • Nonaqueous-phase liquids (LNAPLs (Light non-aqueous phase liquids))
  • Inorganic contaminants, e.g., heavy metals, oxyanions such as nitrate, sulfate, chromate and selenate

As Guest Editors, we cordially invite you to contribute original papers, review articles, or short communications related to the role of microbes in subsurface contaminated aquifers for consideration for publication in this Special Issue.

Dr. Geoffrey J. Puzon
Dr. Ka Yu Cheng
Dr. Anna H. Kaksonen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 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

  • bioaugmentation
  • biodegradation
  • biooxidation
  • bioprecipitation
  • bioreduction
  • bioremediation
  • biosorption
  • biostimulation
  • contaminants
  • contaminant fate and transport
  • environmental pollution
  • groundwater
  • oil spillage
  • metabolomics
  • metagenomics
  • modelling
  • natural attenuation
  • proteomics
  • reductive dehalogenation
  • subsurface aquifer
  • transcriptomics
  • genomics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 3280 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Permeable Reactive Bio-Barriers for Bioremediation of an Organohalide-Polluted Aquifer by Natural-Occurring Microbial Community
by Martina Bertolini, Sarah Zecchin, Giovanni Pietro Beretta, Patrizia De Nisi, Laura Ferrari and Lucia Cavalca
Water 2021, 13(17), 2442; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13172442 - 05 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3206
Abstract
In this study, a bioremediation approach was evaluated for the decontamination of an aquifer affected by the release of organohalides by an industrial landfill. After preliminary physicochemical and microbiological characterization of the landfill groundwater, the stimulation of natural organohalide respiration by the addition [...] Read more.
In this study, a bioremediation approach was evaluated for the decontamination of an aquifer affected by the release of organohalides by an industrial landfill. After preliminary physicochemical and microbiological characterization of the landfill groundwater, the stimulation of natural organohalide respiration by the addition of a reducing substrate (i.e., molasse) was tested both at microcosm and at field scales, by the placement of an anaerobic permeable reactive bio-barrier. Illumina sequencing of cDNA 16S rRNA gene revealed that organohalide-respiring bacteria of genera Geobacter, Sulfurospirillum, Dehalococcoides, Clostridium and Shewanella were present within the aquifer microbial community, along with fermentative Firmicutes and Parvarchaeota. Microcosm experiments confirmed the presence of an active natural attenuation, which was boosted by the addition of the reducing substrate. Field tests showed that the bio-barrier decreased the concentration of chloroethenes at a rate of 23.74 kg d−1. Monitoring of organohalide respiration biomarkers by qPCR and Illumina sequencing revealed that native microbial populations were involved in the dechlorination process, although their specific role still needs to be clarified. The accumulation of lower-chloroethenes suggested the need of future improvement of the present approach by supporting bacterial vinyl-chloride oxidation, to achieve a complete degradation of chloroethenes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Role of Microorganisms in Subsurface Contaminated Aquifers)
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16 pages, 2475 KiB  
Article
Unravelling Microbial Communities Associated with Different Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid Types Undergoing Natural Source Zone Depletion Processes at a Legacy Petroleum Site
by Melanie C. Bruckberger, Deirdre B. Gleeson, Trevor P. Bastow, Matthew J. Morgan, Tom Walsh, John L. Rayner, Greg B. Davis and Geoffrey J. Puzon
Water 2021, 13(7), 898; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13070898 - 25 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2203
Abstract
Petroleum contaminants are exposed to weathering when released into environment, resulting in the alteration of their chemical composition. Here, we investigated microbial communities through the soil profile at an industrial site, which was exposed to various petroleum products for over 50 years. The [...] Read more.
Petroleum contaminants are exposed to weathering when released into environment, resulting in the alteration of their chemical composition. Here, we investigated microbial communities through the soil profile at an industrial site, which was exposed to various petroleum products for over 50 years. The petroleum is present as light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) and is undergoing natural source zone depletion (NSZD). Microbial community composition was compared to the contaminant type, concentration, and its depth of obtained soil cores. A large population of Archaea, particularly Methanomicrobia and Methanobacteria and indication of complex syntrophic relationships of methanogens, methanotrophs and bacteria were found in the contaminated cores. Different families were enriched across the LNAPL types. Results indicate methanogenic or anoxic conditions in the deeper and highly contaminated sections of the soil cores investigated. The contaminant was highly weathered, likely resulting in the formation of recalcitrant polar compounds. This research provides insight into the microorganisms fundamentally associated with LNAPL, throughout a soil depth profile above and below the water table, undergoing NSZD processes at a legacy petroleum site. It advances the potential for integration of microbial community effects on bioremediation and in response to physicochemical partitioning of LNAPL components from different petroleum types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on the Role of Microorganisms in Subsurface Contaminated Aquifers)
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