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Ecogeochemistry Of The Subsurface Food Web At Ph 0–2.5 In Iron Mountain, California, U.S.A., Eleanora I. Robbins, Teresa M. Rodgers, Charles N. Alpers, D. Kirk Nordstrom

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

Pyrite oxidation in the underground mining environment of Iron Mountain, California, has created the most acidic pH values ever reported in aquatic systems. Sulfate values as high as 120 000 mg 1^-1 and iron as high as 27600mg 1^-1 have been measured in the mine water, which also carries abundant other dissolved metals including Al, Zn, Cu, Cd, Mn, Sb and Pb. Extreme acidity and high metal concentrations apparently do not preclude the presence of an underground acidophilic food web, which has developed with bacterial biomass at the base and heliozoans as top predators. Slimes, oil-like films, flexible …