On November 30th 2021 the MultiKulti team met at the cold-water geyser in Andernach, Rhineland-Palatinate to take water samples. Germany’s only geyser ejects a fountain up to 70 m high and is driven by outgassing of carbon dioxide, comparable to an ‘eruption’ of a shaken soda bottle. It was created in 1903 by drilling a 350 m deep hole. Groundwater saturated with CO2 from the surrounding volcanic Eifel region gathers here and comes back to light through the geyser.
Despite rainy weather, the sampling and immediate filtration for enrichment of microorganisms was successful and the experiments on cultivation, isolation and metagenomics can now begin.
DLR press release on the sampling: DLR – Institute of Aerospace Medicine – First sampling at the cold-water geyser in Andernach for the MultiKulti project
The microbial community of the geyser has already been characterized genetically by the workgroup of project partner Alexander Probst, and recently publishing in a paper:
