Sulphate-reducing bacteria-mediated pyrite formation in the Dachang Tongkeng tin polymetallic deposit, Guangxi, China

Abstract

Mediation by sulphate-reducing bacteria (SRB) is responsible for pyrite (FeS ₂) formation. The origin of the Dachang tin polymetallic ore field is related to the mineralisation of submarine hydrothermal vent sediments. Here, we investigated SRB in these ores via morphological, chemical, and isotopic analyses. Polarised and scanning electron microscopy indicated that trace SRB fossils in the metal sulphide ore were present in the form of tubular, beaded, and coccoidal bodies comprising FeS ₂ and were enclosed within a pyrrhotite (FeS) matrix in the vicinity of micro-hydrothermal vents. The carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and oxygen (O) contents in the FeS ₂ synthesised by SRB were high, and a clear biological Raman signal was detected. No such signals were discerned in the peripheral FeS. This co-occurrence of FeS, FeS ₂, and the remains of bacteria (probably chemoautotrophic bacteria) was interpreted as the coprecipitation process of SRB-mediated FeS ₂ formation, which has, to the best of our knowledge, not been reported before. Our study also illustrates that combined energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and isotopic analysis can be used as a novel methodology to document microbial-mediated processes of mineral deposition in submarine hydrothermal vent ecology on geological time scales.