university of idaho

computational hydrology

 

 

Biogeosciences

Colorful algae and bacteria colonize a geothermal vent   In the 1980s, scientists discovered the microbe Thermus aquaticus living in a hot spring in Yellowstone National Park. In the years since this discovery, it has become common to assume that large numbers of microorganisms live below the ground, in what has become known as "the deep, hot biosphere." Although the existence of the deep, hot biosphere is generally accepted, there is little hard information regarding its extent, the diversity, or distribution of microbial life within the subsurface.

To learn more about life in the deep, hot biosphere, Computational Hydrology researchers have teamed with microbiologists from the University of Idaho and Idaho State University to study the way in which microbes interact with the subsurface environment. By finding out how mineralogy, water chemistry, temperature, and fluid flow affect mirocbial ecology, researchers hope to better understand the distribution of life in the subsurface.

» Visit the EPSCoR Biocomplexity Project website

Updated: Nov 2010  |  Contact Webmaster