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Manganese Oxidation by Organisms in Pinal Creek, Arizona by Eleanora I. Robbins (USGS)

Bacteria, cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, mosses, and protozoans living in Pinal Creek and oxidizing manganese. Photomicrograph images are from organisms that settled on glass slides or were collected in wet flocculates.

Details of this study are published in: Robbins, E.I., Corley, T.L., and Conklin, M.H., 1999, Manganese removal by the epilithic microbial consortium at Pinal Creek near Globe, Arizona: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4018A, p. 247-258.

Details of the Pinal Creek program and project can be found at:
http://toxics.usgs.gov/sites/pinal_page.html and http://wwwdaztcn.wr.usgs.gov/pinal/index.html

Photograph of manganese deposit in Pinal Creek, Arizona (photograph by James Eychaner, USGS).  At Pinal Creek, the precipitation of manganese (Mn) results in deposits that may be more than 1 m thick. The brown ledges are older deposits that were not eroded away by a flood in 1993.
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Photomicrograph of green algae. <em>Ulothrix</em> sp. filaments and their manganese-oxidizing holdfasts (arrow). (2/98-3/98, x250)
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Photomicrograph of green algae. A magnified filamentous green alga, <em>Ulothrix</em> sp., in its spherical, manganese-oxidizing holdfasts (arrow). (2/98-3/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of green algae and bacteria. Two different organisms oxidize manganese on their holdfasts. The big one (big arrow) is the filamentous green alga, <em>Ulothrix</em> sp., and the smaller ones (small arrow) are those of the iron bacterium, <em>Leptothrix discophora</em>. Note that the basal cell of this <em>Ulothrix</em> is also coated with oxidized Mn. (12/97-1/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of green algae. <em>Ulothrix</em> sp. filament (arrow) has manganese-coated cells and clear cells, as if this oxidation is algally mediated. (7/98-8/98, x250)
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Photograph of cyanobacteria in Pinal Creek. The cyanobacteria growing in Pinal Creek turn brown from oxidized manganese. (8/99)
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Photomicrograph of cyanobacteria. Brown clumps (arrow) of oxidized manganese on filaments of cyanobacteria. This type of oxidation is thought to be the result of photosynthetic elevation of pH to values above 8. (fresh mat, 9/98, x250)
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Photograph of dried moss, algae, and plant. Macrophytes turn blue (arrow) when orthotoluidine is applied, which shows that oxidized manganese is present. (fresh tissues, 9/98)
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Photomicrograph of moss. Oxidized manganese at a specific site on a moss protonema (at the intersection of cells) (arrow) suggests a biologically mediated process. (fresh moss, 9/98, x400)
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Photomicrograph of bacteria and moss. Holdfast of <em>Leptothrix discophora</em> (arrow) on moss leaf shows that the bacterium rather than the moss oxidized the Mn. (fresh moss, 9/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of green algae. One cell of a <em>Ulothrix</em> filament is coated with oxidized manganese (arrow). The rest of the filaments are not coated. This suggests that a biologically mediated process may be in operation but the details of the process are unknown (senescence or aging?). (9/98-10/98, x630)
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Photograph of vegetation in Pinal Creek (photograph by Timothy L. Corley, University of Arizona, January 8, 1998).  Manganese is actively being deposited in the vegetation, which is dominated by water speedwell (<em>Veronica anagallis-aquatica</em>). This study site is called the Left Hand Side (LHS) at study reach J2-5.
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Photomicrograph of bacteria and algae. Filamentous green alga (probably Spirogyra) colonized by manganese-oxidizing holdfast of <em>Leptothrix discophora</em> (arrow). (12/97-1/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of fungi. Unidentified fungal hyphae lined with adhering oxidized manganese, which suggests biological mediation of oxidation. (4/98-5/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of bacteria. <em>Leptothrix</em> with cells inside (arrow); sheaths of this taxon, <em>Leptothrix</em> "inside," get coated with thick oxidized manganese. (11/97-12/97, x630)
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Photomicrograph of fungi. Fungal hyphae lined with oxidized manganese. (6/98-7/98, x630)
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Photomicrograph of fungi. Fungal hyphae thickly coated with oxidized manganese and beginning to excrete Mn-oxidizing extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) (arrow). (9/98-10/98, x100)
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Photomicrograph of fungi. Brown coated fungal hyphae leaking copious manganese-oxidizing EPS (arrow). (11/97-12/97, x630)
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Photomicrograph of fungi, algae, and bacteria. Unidentified fungus (clear hyphae) (arrow) migrates all over the slides; brown doughnuts are holdfasts of <em>Ulothrix</em> sp. (larger doughnuts) and <em>Leptothrix discophora</em> (smaller doughnuts). (10/97-11/97, x630)
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Photomicrograph of fungi. Fungal hyphae (arrow) get very coated with oxidized manganese. (7/98-8/98, x250)
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U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
URL http://mam.er.usgs.gov/
Contact: Eleanora Robbins, USGS
Last modification: 03/10/2000 (mhh)