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Organic Matter from Redoximorphic Soils Accelerates and Sustains Microbial Fe(III) Reduction

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    Biogeochemical Cycling

    Organic Matter from Redoximorphic Soils Accelerates and Sustains Microbial Fe(III) Reduction
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    Environmental Science & Technology

    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, 55, 15, 10821–10831
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    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c01183
    Published July 21, 2021
    Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society
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    Abstract

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    Microbial reduction of Fe(III) minerals is a prominent process in redoximorphic soils and is strongly affected by organic matter (OM). We herein determined the rate and extent of microbial reduction of ferrihydrite (Fh) with either adsorbed or coprecipitated OM by Geobacter sulfurreducens. We focused on OM-mediated effects on electron uptake and alterations in Fh crystallinity. The OM was obtained from anoxic soil columns (effluent OM, efOM) and included—unlike water-extractable OM—compounds released by microbial activity under anoxic conditions. We found that organic molecules in efOM had generally no or only very low electron-accepting capacity and were incorporated into the Fh aggregates when coprecipitated with Fh. Compared to OM-free Fh, adsorption of efOM to Fh decelerated the microbial Fe(III) reduction by passivating the Fh surface toward electron uptake. In contrast, coprecipitation of Fh with efOM accelerated the microbial reduction, likely because efOM disrupted the Fh structure, as noted by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Additionally, the adsorbed and coprecipitated efOM resulted in a more sustained Fe(III) reduction, potentially because efOM could have effectively scavenged biogenic Fe(II) and prevented the passivation of the Fh surface by the adsorbed Fe(II). Fe(III)–OM coprecipitates forming at anoxic–oxic interfaces are thus likely readily reducible by Fe(III)-reducing bacteria in redoximorphic soils.

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    • Used topsoil material; design of the soil column experiment and the microbial reduction experiments; 13C NMR spectra, FTIR spectra, and XRD patterns of efOM; properties of ancillary OM specimens for comparison purposes; measured Mössbauer spectra and the corresponding fits; and aggregate properties of OM-free Fh (PDF)

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    Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2021, 55, 15, 10821–10831
    Click to copy citationCitation copied!
    https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c01183
    Published July 21, 2021
    Copyright © 2021 American Chemical Society
    Request reuse permissions

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