Kinetic Studies of Bacterial Sulfate Reduction in Freshwater Sediments by High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography and Microdistillation

Abstract

Indirect photometric chromatography and microdistillation enabled a simultaneous measurement of sulfate depletion and sulfide production in the top 3 cm of freshwater sediments to be made. The simultaneous measurement of sulfate depletion and sulfide production rates provided added insight into microbial sulfur metabolism. The lower sulfate reduction rates, as derived from the production of acid-volatile 35 S 2− only, were explained by a conversion of this pool to an undistillable fraction under acidic conditions during incubation. A mathematical model was applied to calculate sulfate reduction from sulfate gradients at the sediment-water interface. To avoid disturbance of these gradients, the sample volume was reduced to 0.2 g (wet weight) of sediment. Sulfate diffusion coefficients in the model were determined ( D s = 0.3 × 10 −5 cm 2 s −1 at 6°C). The results of the model were compared with those of radioactive sulfate turnover experiments by assessing the actual turnover rate constants (2 to 5 day −1 ) and pool sizes of sulfate at different sediment depths.