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Yellowstone Quake Swarm Briefly Rewired a Deep Aquifer’s Chemistry and Microbes

A rare borehole time series links seismic fracturing to short-lived chemical pulses that fuel subsurface microbes.

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This is a view looking down at the famous Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park. The spring gets its colorful hues from bacteria. A new study said that Yellowstone earthquakes, like the swarms in 2021, disrupt the underground microbial communities. Image via Carsten Steger/ Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-4.0).
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Overview

  • A peer-reviewed PNAS Nexus study led by Montana State University’s Eric Boyd tracked a nearly 100-meter borehole on Yellowstone Lake’s west shore through five sampling events in 2021.
  • Post-swarm samples showed sharp increases in hydrogen, sulfide, and dissolved organic carbon, which function as key energy sources for subsurface life.
  • Planktonic cell concentrations rose and community composition shifted after the swarm, then moved back toward prior states within weeks to months.
  • The team attributes the transient changes to earthquakes fracturing rock, releasing trapped substrates, and redirecting fluid flow to expose fresh reactive surfaces.
  • Laboratory grinding of Yellowstone rhyolite released hydrogen and organic carbon, supporting the proposed mechanism and suggesting similar dynamics could operate in other seismic regions and possibly on Mars.