Cariboo Plateau Alkaline Lakes and Mineralogy
| dc.contributor.author | Thompson, Maya | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-03-15T01:02:35Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-03-15T01:02:35Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The Cariboo Plateau hosts many alkaline evaporative lakes with highly diverse microbiomes. These environments are known to form carbonates along the lake shore and on the microbial mats that cover much of the surface. Importantly, these lakes hold vast amounts of carbon, typically 1000x greater than that of the ocean, along with being home to uncommon carbonates such as magnesite and dolomite. We aimed to investigate the water and carbonate chemistry of soda lakes in the Cariboo Plateau, BC, with a focus on how alkaliphiles may mediate carbonate precipitation and carbon capture. We took surface water, pore water, and microbial mat samples, and analysed them with ion chromatography and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. We compared light and electron imagery of microbe samples to better understand individual and colonial morphologies and what metabolisms are present and dominate in these lakes. We demonstrated that alkaline lake microbes play a role in uncommon carbonate precipitation and carbon capture. A better understanding of these these processes could be used to explain extraterrestrial microbe-mediated carbonates and more efficient anthropogenic carbon capture. | |
| dc.description.reviewstatus | Reviewed | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Undergraduate | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA) | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/16089 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of Victoria | |
| dc.subject | Alkaline lake | |
| dc.subject | microbially mediated precipitation | |
| dc.subject | biogeochemistry | |
| dc.subject | Mg-carbonate | |
| dc.subject | alkaliphile | |
| dc.title | Cariboo Plateau Alkaline Lakes and Mineralogy | |
| dc.type | Poster |