Abstract

The origin, evolution, and distribution of life throughout the universe can be better understood by determining the limits to life on Earth. A broad range of many of the physical and chemical constraints that determine the limits to life, such as temperature, pressure, physical space, water content, and the availability of energy and nutrients, are found in subseafloor environments. In fact, several expeditions (Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP: now International Ocean Discovery Program)) have been at least partially motivated by the desire to explore the boundaries between the habitable and the uninhabitable parts of the subseafloor. In this chapter, the possible subseafloor environments and their physical and chemical characteristics that could signify the limits of the biosphere, particularly the hydrothermally active subseafloor environments, are reviewed. Although the nature and distribution of extreme or fringe biospheres are unknown, previous ODP- and IODP-expedition-based microbiological investigations have shown that the subseafloor hydrothermal systems with relatively abundant energy supplies (sediment-derived organic compounds and serpentinization-derived H₂) provide targets for seeking the limits (boundary conditions) in subseafloor environments. Here, we also discuss predicted patterns of the abundance and composition of potential microbial catabolisms in the fringe microbial communities of subseafloor hydrothermal fluids based on the thermodynamic potential of particular catabolic strategies and the computed cost of anabolism in these settings.