Retention of strontium,cesium, lead and uranium by bacterial iron oxides from a subterranean environment

Bacteriogenic Fe oxides (BIOS) and groundwater samples were collected 195 m underground at the Stråssa Mine in central Sweden. Ferrous iron oxidizing bacteria, including stalked Gallionella ferruginea and filamenous Leptothrix sp., were prominent in the BIOS samples. The BIOS samples were found to contain only poorly ordered (amorphous) hydrous ferric oxide, as determined by X-ray diffraction. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy revealed hydroxylamine-reducible Fe and Mn oxide contents that ranged from 55 to 85% on a dry weight basis. Concentrations of Sr, Cs, Pb and U in filtered groundwater ranged from 0.002 to 1.8 μM. Solid phase concentrations of these heavy metals in the BIOS spanned the 0.04–2.23 mmol/kg range. Distribution coefficients (K_d values), calculated as the ratio between BIOS and dissolved heavy metal concentrations, revealed solid phase enrichments that, depending on the heavy metal and Fe oxide content of the sample, extended from 10^3.0 to 10^4.7. At the same time, however, a strong inverse linear relationship was found between log K_d values and the corresponding mass fraction of reducible oxide in the samples, implying that metal uptake was strongly influenced by the relative proportion of bacterial organic matter in the composite solids. Based on the metal accumulation properties of the BIOS, an important role can be inferred for intermixed Fe oxides and bacterial organic matter in the transport and fate of dissolved metals in groundwater systems.