Microbiological and chemical characterization of hydrothermal fluids at Tortugas Mountain Geothermal Area, southern New Mexico, USA

The Tortugas Mountain Geothermal Area is part of the larger hydrothermal system of the Rio Grande Rift, southern New Mexico, USA. Chemical and microbial parameters indicate that the sampled hydrothermal water derives from a mixture zone of deep, anaerobic water with meteoric water from an adjacent alluvial, non-thermal groundwater flow system. A microbial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis indicates that biomass and diversity of hydrothermal groundwater are very low, whereas hydrothermal surface water is diverse and bacteria are in a rapid growth phase. A nucleic acid (DNA) analysis of the hydrothermal groundwater resulted in the identification of one eubacterium and two Archaea (archaebacteria); the eubacterium and one Archaea were previously unknown. The one Archaea that could be related to a known species is an extreme halophilic methanomicrobacterium. The presence of the halophilic Archaea and the other Archaea species supports the hypothesis of the Tortugas Mountain Geothermal Area being the discharge area of deep circulating groundwater within a bedrock-hosted regional groundwater flow system. Received, April 1999/Revised, January 2000/Accepted, February 2000