An Unexpectedly Broad Thermal and Salinity-Tolerant Estuarine Methanogen Community.

Moderately thermophilic (T, ~55 °C) methanogens are identified after extended enrichments from temperate, tropical and low-temperature environments. However, thermophilic methanogens with higher growth temperatures (T ≥ 60 °C) are only reported from high-temperature environments. A microcosm-based approach was used to measure the rate of methane production and methanogen community structure over a range of temperatures and salinities in sediment from a temperate estuary.

Volcanic contribution to emergence of Central Panama in the Early Miocene.

Formation of the Panama Isthmus, that had global oceanographic and biotic effects in the Neogene, is generally associated with tectonic uplift during collision of the Panama volcanic arc with South America. However, new field, geochemical and geochronological data from the Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal suggest that volcanism also contributed to the Isthmus emergence in the Early Miocene. This volcanism is recorded in a newly-recognised Central Panama volcanic field that includes several phases of development.