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Updated: May 28, 2026

Experimental Column Setup for Studying Anaerobic Biogeochemical Interactions Between Iron (Oxy)Hydroxides, Trace Elements, and Bacteria
Published on: December 19, 2017
Iron transformations induced by an acid-tolerant Desulfosporosinus species
Doug Bertel1, John Peck, Thomas J Quick
1Department of Geology and Environmental Science, The University of Akron, Akron, Ohio, USA.
Abstract:
The mineralogical transformations of Fe phases induced by an acid-tolerant, Fe(III)- and sulfate-reducing bacterium, Desulfosporosinus sp. strain GBSRB4.2 were evaluated under geochemical conditions associated with acid mine drainage-impacted systems (i.e., low pH and high Fe concentrations). X-ray powder diffractometry coupled with magnetic analysis by first-order reversal curve diagrams were used to evaluate mineral phases produced by GBSRB4.2 in media containing different ratios of Fe(II) and Fe(III). In medium containing Fe predominately in the +II oxidation state, ferrimagnetic, single-domain greigite (Fe₃S₄) was formed, but the addition of Fe(III) inhibited greigite formation. In media that contained abundant Fe(III) [as schwertmannite; Fe₈O₈(OH)₆SO₄ · nH₂O], the activities of strain GBSRB4.2 enhanced the transformation of schwertmannite to goethite (α-FeOOH), due to the increased pH and Fe(II) concentrations that resulted from the activities of GBSRB4.2.
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