SGER: Temperature Arrays for Investigation of Active Sulfide Structures

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9817065DelaneyThis Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) project involves opportunistic and high risk research into the linked processes that govern the distribution and abundance of microbial communities within actively growing sulfide deposits on seafloor hydrothermal vent fields. Building upon a collaborative seagoing expedition to recover several large active sulfide structures from the seafloor, and to conduct innovative research on the distribution, abundance and community dynamics of surficial macrofaunal communities and microbial activity within this evolving habitat, researchers will utilize the recovery event as a perturbation experiment to examine the plumbing of nearby outflow sites, and track the ultimate regrowth of the sulfide habitat-deposit. To obtain this information funds are provided for development and deployment of a spider-temperature array, an in-situ stump temperature package for monitoring regrowth of a sulfide structure over a one year period, and for a time lapse camera, which allows visual monitoring of sulfide growth and recolonization by biological communities. The results of this research will bear significantly on the formation of metal deposits, on the roles of microorganisms in hydrothermal systems, and on the shifting physics and chemistry of perturbed submarine hydrothermal systems.