Aggregate-scale spatial heterogeneity in reductive transformation of ferrihydrite resulting from coupled biogeochemical and physical processes

Iron (hydr)oxides are ubiquitous in soils and sediments and play a dominant role in the geochemistry of surface and subsurface environments. Their fate depends on local environmental conditions, which in structured soils may vary significantly over short distances due to mass-transfer limitations on solute delivery and metabolite removal. In the present study, artificial soil aggregates were used to investigate the coupling of physical and biogeochemical processes affecting the spatial distribution of iron (Fe) phases resulting from reductive transformation of ferrihydrite. Spherical aggregates made of ferrihydrite-coated sand were inoculated with the dissimilatory Fe-reducing bacterium Shewanella putrefaciens strain CN-32, and placed into a flow reactor, the reaction cell simulates a diffusion-dominated soil aggregate surrounded by an advective flow domain. The spatial and temporal evolution of secondary mineralization products resulting from dissimilatory Fe reduction of ferrihydrite were followed within the aggregates in response to a range of flow rates and lactate concentrations. Strong radial variations in the distribution of secondary phases were observed owing to diffusively controlled delivery of lactate and efflux of Fe(II) and bicarbonate. In the aggregate cortex, only limited formation of secondary Fe phases were observed over 30 d of reaction, despite high rates of ferrihydrite reduction. Under all flow conditions tested, ferrihydrite transformation was limited in the cortex (70-85 mol.% Fe remained as ferrihydrite) because metabolites such as Fe(II) and bicarbonate were efficiently removed in outflow solutes. In contrast, within the inner fractions of the aggregate, limited mass-transfer results in metabolite (Fe(II) and bicarbonate) build-up and the consummate transformation of ferrihydrite - only 15-40 mol.% Fe remained as ferrihydrite after 30 d of reaction. Goethite/lepidocrocite, and minor amounts of magnetite, formed in the aggregate mid-section and interior at low lactate concentration (0.3 mM) after 30 d of reaction. Under high lactate (3 mM) concentration, magnetite was observed only as a transitory phase, and rather goethite/lepidocrocite and siderite were the dominant secondary mineralization products. Our results illustrate the importance of slow diffusive transport of both electron donor and metabolites concentrations and concomitant biogeochemical reactions within soils and sediments, giving rise to heterogeneous products over small spatial (μm) scale.