About this Research Topic
The subsurface remains a significant and understudied frontier for microbiology. Our knowledge of this environment is hampered by access to the subsurface and the paucity of sampling methods for understanding this habitat in detail. Key questions remain about the interaction of microbial communities with source rocks (coal or shales) and stored gases in the subsurface. This is especially true for deep, hard to access reservoirs. Recent advances in subsurface sampling and DNA/RNA sequencing can provide new insight into the energy reservoir microbiomes and their roles in driving important processes in the subsurface.
This research topic provides a forum for bringing together results pertinent to the ecology and physiology of subsurface energy reservoirs, including coal, shale, and oil reservoirs. Of particular interest are multidisciplinary studies that integrate geochemistry, gas isotopes, geology with the microbiology in order to assess the entire biogeochemical processes occurring in these subsurface environments. Of equal interest are: experimental studies of the environmental conditions that enhance or contribute to methanogenesis in energy reservoirs; or experimental studies of subsurface microbial community interactions with stored carbon dioxide or hydrogen.
Keywords: microbial ecology, microbial physiology, shale, coal, oil, microbiology, coalbed methane, coal seam methane, methanogenesis, biodegradation, hydrocarbon, genomics, metagenomics, biogasification, methane, carbon sequestration, hydrogen, carbon dioxide
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