{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86525"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/86525","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Geochemistry and Microbiology of Extremely Alkaline (Ph > 12) Ground Water in the Calumet Slag -Fill Aquifer","abstract":"Microbiologists have long believed that highly alkaline conditions are poorly supportive of microbial life, in part because an environment lacking in hydrogen ions (H+) is likely to interfere with the proton motive force, and with the need to maintain a circum-neutral intracellular pH (Horikoshi and Akiba, 1982). Here I describe a diverse microbial community that inhabits extremely alkaline (pH ≈ 12--13) groundwater from the Lake Calumet region Using microbial culturing, genetic sequencing, and microcosm experiments, I confirmed the presence and growth of a variety of alkaliphilic beta-Proteobacteria, Bacillus, and Clostridium species at pH up to 13.2. Many of the bacterial sequences most closely matched other alkaliphiles found more moderately alkaline waters around the world. Oxidation of dihydrogen produced by reaction of water with steel slag is likely a primary energy source to the community. These results extend upward the known range of pH tolerance for a microbial community by as much as two pH units.","abstract_html":"Microbiologists have long believed that highly alkaline conditions are poorly supportive of microbial life, in part because an environment lacking in hydrogen ions (H+) is likely to interfere with the proton motive force, and with the need to maintain a circum-neutral intracellular pH (Horikoshi and Akiba, 1982). Here I describe a diverse microbial community that inhabits extremely alkaline (pH ≈ 12--13) groundwater from the Lake Calumet region Using microbial culturing, genetic sequencing, and microcosm experiments, I confirmed the presence and growth of a variety of alkaliphilic beta-Proteobacteria, Bacillus, and Clostridium species at pH up to 13.2. Many of the bacterial sequences most closely matched other alkaliphiles found more moderately alkaline waters around the world. Oxidation of dihydrogen produced by reaction of water with steel slag is likely a primary energy source to the community. These results extend upward the known range of pH tolerance for a microbial community by as much as two pH units.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Roadcap, George Stewart"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Geology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Bethke, Craig M."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-09-28T15:12:28Z","date_published":"2015-09-28T15:12:28Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:26:27Z","subjects":["Geochemistry"],"languages":["eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["(MiAaPQ)AAI3131014"],"render_values":[{"text":"(MiAaPQ)AAI3131014","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/86525","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Bethke, Craig M."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Roadcap, George Stewart"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2015-09-28T15:12:28Z","10000-01-01","2004"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Geology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Geochemistry"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["eng"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/86525","(MiAaPQ)AAI3131014"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Microbiologists have long believed that highly alkaline conditions are poorly supportive of microbial life, in part because an environment lacking in hydrogen ions (H+) is likely to interfere with the proton motive force, and with the need to maintain a circum-neutral intracellular pH (Horikoshi and Akiba, 1982). Here I describe a diverse microbial community that inhabits extremely alkaline (pH ≈ 12--13) groundwater from the Lake Calumet region Using microbial culturing, genetic sequencing, and microcosm experiments, I confirmed the presence and growth of a variety of alkaliphilic beta-Proteobacteria, Bacillus, and Clostridium species at pH up to 13.2. Many of the bacterial sequences most closely matched other alkaliphiles found more moderately alkaline waters around the world. Oxidation of dihydrogen produced by reaction of water with steel slag is likely a primary energy source to the community. These results extend upward the known range of pH tolerance for a microbial community by as much as two pH units.","Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-28T15:12:28Z (GMT). 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Here I describe a diverse microbial community that inhabits extremely alkaline (pH ≈ 12--13) groundwater from the Lake Calumet region Using microbial culturing, genetic sequencing, and microcosm experiments, I confirmed the presence and growth of a variety of alkaliphilic beta-Proteobacteria, Bacillus, and Clostridium species at pH up to 13.2. Many of the bacterial sequences most closely matched other alkaliphiles found more moderately alkaline waters around the world. Oxidation of dihydrogen produced by reaction of water with steel slag is likely a primary energy source to the community. These results extend upward the known range of pH tolerance for a microbial community by as much as two pH units.","Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-28T15:12:28Z (GMT). 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