Sediment Characteristics of Beachrock: A Baseline Investigation Based on Microbial Induced Carbonate Precipitation at Krakal-Sadranan Beach, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Isolation of ureolytic bacteria and geochemical analysis of beachrock from Krakal-Sadranan Beach (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) were conducted to determine natural sedimentary characteristics of the beachrock. The beachrock was also examined to determine the depositional conditions and distribution of rare earth elements. An increased concentration of total rare earth elements, both heavy rare earth elements (terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium) and light rare earth elements (lanthanum, cesium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, and gadolinium) signals that the beachrock deposition process happened under oxidative environmental conditions. This study proposes the novel use of ureolytic bacteria in a depositional environment for carbonate control of a sedimentary process for the development of artificial rock to mitigate coastal erosion. The resulting bacterial strains are highly homologous to the 16S rDNA nucleotide sequence of the species Oceanobacillus profundus, Vibrio maritimus, and Pseudoalteromonas tetradonis.