Comparative Study of Effects of CO 2 Concentration and pH on Microbial Communities from a Saline Aquifer, a Depleted Oil Reservoir, and a Freshwater Aquifer
Injected CO 2 from geologic carbon storage is expected to impact the microbial communities of proposed storage sites, such as depleted oil reservoirs and deep saline aquifers, as well as overlying freshwater aquifers at risk of receiving leaking CO 2 . Microbial community change in these subsurface sites may affect injectivity of CO 2 , permanence of stored CO 2 , and shallow subsurface water quality. The effect of CO 2 concentration on the microbial communities in fluid collected from a depleted oil reservoir and a freshwater aquifer was examined at subsurface pressures and temperatures. The community was exposed to 0%, 1%, 10%, and 100% pCO 2 for 56 days. Bacterial community structure was analyzed through 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, and total bacterial abundance was estimated through quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Changes in the microbial community observed in the depleted oil reservoir samples and freshwater samples were compared to previous results from CO 2 -exposed deep saline aquifer fluids. Overall, results suggest that CO 2 exposure to microbial communities will result in pH-dependent population change, and the CO 2 -selected microbial communities will vary among sites. In conclusion, this is the first study to compare the response of multiple subsurface microbial communities at conditions expected during geologic carbon storage, increasing the understanding of environmental drivers for microbial community changes in CO 2 -exposed environments.