• Proceedings of the Petrological Society of Korea Conference
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• 2006.05a
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• pp.1-3
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• 2006

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.353-365
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• 2000

After their first appearance on Earth, bacteria have exerted significant influence on geochemical behavior of elements. Numerous evidence of their control on geochemistry through geologic history has been observed in a variety of natural environments. They have mediated weathering rate, formation of secondary minerals, redox transformation of metals and metalloids, and thus global cycling of elements. Such ability of bacteria receives so considerable attention from microbiologists, mineralogists, geologists, soil scientists, limnologists, oceanographers, and atmospheric scientists as well as geochemists that a new and interdisciplinary field of research called 'geomicrobiology' is currently expanding. Some recent subjects of geomicrobiology which are studied extensively are as follows: 1) Functional groups distributed on bacterial cell walls adsorb dissolved cations onto cell surfaces by electrostatic surface complexation, which is followed by hydrous mineral formation. 2) Dissimilatory metal reducing bacteria conserve energy to support growth by oxidation of organic matter coupled to reduction of some oxidized metals and/or metalloids. They can be effectively used in remediating environments contaminated with U, As, Se, and Cr. 3) Bacteria increase the rate of mineral dissolution by excreting proton and ligands such as organic acids into aqueous system. 4) Thorough investigation on the effects of biofilm on geochemical processes is needed, because most bacteria are adsorbed on solid substrates and form biofilms in natural settings.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.596-604
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• 2019

This study conducted a sediment culture experiment to investigate the effects of sediment oxygen demand (SOD) and environmental factors on sediment and water quality. We installed a leaching tank in the laboratory, cultured it for 20 days, and analyzed the relationship between P and Fe in the sediment. As a result, the dissolved oxygen of the water layer decreased with time, while the oxidation-reduction potential of the sediment progressed in the negative direction to form an anaerobic reducing environment. The SOD was measured to be 0.05 mg/g at the initial stage of cultivation and increased to 0.09 mg/g on the 20th day, indicating the tendency of increasing consumption of oxygen by the sediment. The change is likely to have caused by oxygen consumption from biological-SOD, which is the decomposition of organic matter accumulated on the sediment surface due to the increase of chl-a, and chemical-SOD consumed when the metal-reducing product produced by the reduction reaction is reoxidized. The correlation between SOD and causality for sediment-extracted sediments was positive for Ex-P and Org-P and negative for Fe-P. The analysis of the microbial community in the sediment on the 20th day showed that anaerobic iron-reducing bacteria (FeRB) were the dominant species. Therefore, when the phosphate bonded to the iron oxide is separated by the reduction reaction, the phosphate is eluted into the water to increase the primary productivity. The reduced substance is reoxidized and contributes to the oxygen consumption of the sediment. The results of this study would be useful as the reference information to improve oxygen resin.