Participation of bacteria in weathering processes of silicates

Abstract

Biological processes presented by the metabolic activity of different species of bacteria adhered at the mineral surfaces are a part of the geochemical processes. These bacteria accelerate, by the production of organic acids into the minerals structural bonds, the leaching of elements and their subsequent and gradual transformation to the secondary minerals. Microbial destructions of silicates are studied in order to processing low-quality mineral raw-materials and the remediation of soils, sediments and waters contaminated by industrial pollutants. The samples of material, used in our research, were obtained at 9 deposits of non-metallic raw-materials in Slovakia. The sediment sample was taken from the area of Baikal Lake. The presence of microorganisms in the matrix most frequently was determined by a subsequent isolation of microorganisms and identification of bacterial species presented in the silicate matrix. The species of Bacillus and Pseudomonas genus were the common representative of the microorganisms.

Keywords

• Bacillus sp.
• silicate bacteria
• weathering
• nonmetallicferous raw material