World's Most Alkaline Life Forms Found Near Chicago

[Shyriath]

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-03zzp.html

Sometimes the most extreme environment for life isn't at the bottom of the ocean or inside a volcano. It's just south of Chicago.

Illinois groundwater scientists have found microbial communities thriving in the slag dumps of the Lake Calumet region of southeast Chicago where the water can reach extraordinary alkalinity of pH 12.8. That's comparable to caustic soda and floor strippers - far beyond known naturally occurring alkaline environments.

...

Roadcap and his colleagues at the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana came upon the microbes while studying contaminated groundwater created by more than a century of industrial iron slag dumping in southern Illinois and northern Indiana. Roadcap will present details of what appear to be the most alkaline-tolerant life known to date on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Seattle, WA.

Well, at least some microbes may survive if we end up polluting ourselves to death.

[madrchsod]

1. i worked in a steel mill

and a steel forging shop for yrs and i don`t doubt that study .we dumped an amazing amount of really nasty stuff over the last hundred yrs. the steel mill i worked at hot lead leaked into the river next to it for yrs. we removed over 25 tons of solid lead from a storm sewer line....

[RandomKoolzip]

2. Some health food enthusiasts I know

recommend some types of food and supplements like Coral Calcium to make your body "more alkaline." I always respond with, "so should I drink some paint thinner, then?"

[XNASA]

3. Far-out. That's about 7 miles from where I live.

Microbes that could live in caustic soda. See, I've been telling everyone that we Chicagoans are a buncha tough mofo's.

"Lake" Calumet is less of a lake and more of a parking lot for shipping vessels. I'd be hesitant to call it a lake.