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Title: Members of Marinobacter and Arcobacter Influence System Biogeochemistry During Early Production of Hydraulically Fractured Natural Gas Wells in the Appalachian Basin

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Microbiology

Hydraulic fracturing is the prevailing method for enhancing recovery of hydrocarbon resources from unconventional shale formations, yet little is understood regarding the microbial impact on biogeochemical cycling in natural-gas wells. Although the metabolisms of certain fermentative bacteria and methanogenic archaea that dominate in later produced fluids have been well studied, few details have been reported on microorganisms prevelant during the early flowback period, when oxygen and other surface-derived oxyanions and nutrients become depleted. Here, we report the isolation, genomic and phenotypic characterization of Marinobacter and Arcobacter bacterial species from natural-gas wells in the Utica-Point Pleasant and Marcellus Formations coupled to supporting geochemical and metagenomic analyses of produced fluid samples. These unconventional hydrocarbon system-derived Marinobacter sp. are capable of utilizing a diversity of organic carbon sources including aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, amino acids, and carboxylic acids. Marinobacter and Arcobacter can metabolize organic nitrogen sources and have the capacity for denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA) respectively; with DNRA and ammonification processes partially explaining high concentrations of ammonia measured in produced fluids. Arcobacter is capable of chemosynthetic sulfur oxidation, which could fuel metabolic processes for other heterotrophic, fermentative, or sulfate-reducing community members. Our analysis revealed mechanisms for growth of these taxa across a broad range of salinities (up to 15% salt), which explains their enrichment during early natural-gas production. These results demonstrate the prevalence of Marinobacter and Arcobacter during a key maturation phase of hydraulically fractured natural-gas wells, and highlight the significant role these genera play in biogeochemical cycling for this economically important energy system.

Research Organization:
West Virginia Univ., Morgantown, WV (United States); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Grant/Contract Number:
FE0024297; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1614235
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 9; ISSN 1664-302X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 25 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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