Science Reports Sci. Dril., 27, 1–23, 2020 https://doi.org/10.5194/sd-27-1-2020 © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Microbial diversity of drilling fluids from 3000 m deep Koyna pilot borehole provides insights into the deep biosphere of continental earth crust Himadri Bose1, Avishek Dutta1, Ajoy Roy2, Abhishek Gupta1, Sourav Mukhopadhyay1, Balaram Mohapatra1, Jayeeta Sarkar1, Sukanta Roy3, Sufia K. Kazy2, and Pinaki Sar1 1Environmental Microbiology and Genomics Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302, West Bengal, India 2Department of Biotechnology, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, Durgapur, 713209, West Bengal, India 3Ministry of Earth Sciences, Borehole Geophysics Research Laboratory, Karad, 415114, Maharashtra, India Correspondence: Pinaki Sar (
[email protected],
[email protected]) Received: 24 June 2019 – Revised: 25 September 2019 – Accepted: 16 December 2019 – Published: 27 May 2020 Abstract. Scientific deep drilling of the Koyna pilot borehole into the continental crust up to a depth of 3000 m below the surface at the Deccan Traps, India, provided a unique opportunity to explore microbial life within the deep granitic bedrock of the Archaean Eon. Microbial communities of the returned drilling fluid (fluid re- turned to the mud tank from the underground during the drilling operation; designated here as DF) sampled during the drilling operation of the Koyna pilot borehole at a depth range of 1681–2908 metres below the surface (m b.s.) were explored to gain a glimpse of the deep biosphere underneath the continental crust. Change of pH 2− to alkalinity, reduced abundance of Si and Al, but enrichment of Fe, Ca and SO4 in the samples from deeper horizons suggested a gradual infusion of elements or ions from the crystalline bedrock, leading to an observed geochemical shift in the DF.