Biogeophysics is a subdiscipline of
geophysics
Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...
concerned with how plants, microbial activity and other organisms alter geologic materials and affect geophysical signatures.
Introduction
The activities of the microbes are measured using geophysical imaging techniques. A lot of these techniques are based on the measurement of electric potential anomalies, which in this case can arise from microbes, their growth, metabolic by-products, and microbially mediated processes. The primary way in which these anomalies are generated can be explained by the
electrical double layer
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
. The effects are most visible when low frequency field is used as the surface charge of microbes is of low mobility.
See also
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Astrobiology
Astrobiology (also xenology or exobiology) is a scientific field within the List of life sciences, life and environmental sciences that studies the abiogenesis, origins, Protocell, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the univ ...
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Biogeology
Biogeology is the study of the interactions between the Earth's biosphere and the lithosphere.
Biogeology examines biotic, hydrologic, and terrestrial systems in relation to each other, to help understand the Earth's climate, oceans, and other ...
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Exploration geophysics
Exploration geophysics is an applied branch of geophysics and economic geology, which uses physical methods at the surface of the Earth, such as seismic, gravitational, magnetic, electrical and electromagnetic, to measure the physical properties o ...
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Geomicrobiology
Geomicrobiology is the scientific field at the intersection of geology and microbiology and is a major subfield of geobiology. It concerns the role of microbes on geological and geochemical processes and effects of minerals and metals to microbia ...
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Near-surface geophysics
References
Further reading
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External links
American Geophysical Union Biogeosciences SectionJournal of Geophysical Research - BiogeosciencesEuropean Geosciences Union (EGU) Division on Biogeosciences (BG)
Biogeosciences (journal published by the EGU)Advances in Astrobiology and Biogeophysics
Geomicrobiology
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