Microbial Community Structure, Metabolic Function, and Phenotypic Characteristics of Sediment in Deep Coal Mine Underground Environment, China

Abstract

Long-term coal mining has created unique microbial communities in deep coal mines. Revealing the microbial community structure and metabolic functions in the underground environment can contribute to a better understanding of the coal mine ecosystem. In this study, we collected underground sediment samples from producing mines in eastern China at mining depths of −400 to −1100 m and performed high-throughput sequencing. Results showed that most of the genera in the underground sediment can degrade organic matter, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, and xylene, etc. The dominant genera in the underground sediment were Hydrogenophaga, Thauera, Pseudomonas, Rhodobacter, and Dietzia. Samples were divided into coal roadway (CR) and rock roadway (RR) groups according to the sampling location. The microbial community structure differed significantly (p p Hydrogenophaga, Pseudomonas, Geothermobacter, and Methylophaga, etc. This study deepens the understanding of microbial communities in deep coal mine environments; however, the organic contamination and biological health risks of underground environments require extensive attention.

Keywords

• deep coal mine
• microbial community
• metabolic functions
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