A large volume of literature has recently emerged discussing the potential of bacteria to contribute to mineral weathering.
Results suggest both positive and negative influences depending on the conditions involved.
Although such studies have gone a long way in accumulating evidence for microbial effects on weathering, many difficulties remain in predicting actual bacterial controls on mineral reactivity. In field studies, the main shortfall is that it is rarely possible to differentiate between effects caused by different micro-organisms or to identify mechanisms. Any predictions based on field experiments will therefore treat microbes as a bulk influence. Laboratory experiments are still the main source of quantitative information on microbial weathering of minerals. However laboratory conditions may not always be good analogues for natural conditions.