Collaborative research at the Lau ISS: integrating microbial diversity with geochemistry using heat and mass transport models

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)提供资金的。海底热液喷口排出温度从~2摄氏度到400摄氏度的流体，为各种微生物提供栖息地，这些微生物依靠地球内部的地球化学通量生存，而不是利用阳光做饭。许多喷口微生物依靠减少的喷口流体与海底含氧海水相互作用和混合时产生的化学不平衡所产生的能量。因此，热液喷口烟囱形成了重要而不同寻常的栖息地，维持着重要的微生物多样性。这项研究将从刘盆地综合研究地点Ridge 2000喷口沉积现场获得的微生物多样性数据与代表样品所在物理和地球化学环境的计算机计算相结合。分子指纹数据和来自热液烟囱和法兰沉积的一小部分454(PYRE)测序数据(16S reran基因的V6区域)与喷口热量和质量传输的计算机模型相结合，以产生对烟囱和法兰中存在的温度梯度、孔隙流体成分和局部平流率的估计。测量的外部和内部烟囱通风口温度、矿物成分和纹理(包括孔隙度)被用作约束条件。这项工作有助于提高我们对这些独特而富有成效的海底生态系统的了解。这项工作的更广泛影响包括重大的公共宣传、学生培训和支持两个在科学界性别代表性不足的个人投资机构。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Seafloor hHydrothermal vents that expel fluids with temperatures from ~2ºC to 400ºC, provide habitats for a diversity of microbes that subsist off geochemical fluxes from Earth's interior as opposed to making food from sunlight. Many vent micro-organisms feed off the energy from chemical disequilibria that results when reduced vent fluids interact and mix with oxic seawater on the seafloor. As a result hydrothermal vent chimneys form important and unusual habitats that sustain significant microbial diversity. This research combines microbial diversity data obtained in the field from vent deposits at the Ridge 2000, Lau Basin Integrated Study Site with computer calculations that represent the physical and geochemical environments from which the samples were taken. Both molecular finger printing data and a small subset of 454 (pyre) sequencing data (V6 region of the 16S reran gene) from hydrothermal chimney and flange deposits are combined with computer models of vent heat and mass transport to produce estimates of temperature gradients, pore fluid compositions, and local advection rates present in the chimneys and flanges. Measured exterior and interior vent chimney temperatures, mineral compositions and textures (including porosity) are used as constraints. The work helps improve our understanding of these unique and productive seafloor ecosystems. Broader impacts of the work include significant public outreach, student training, and support of two PIs whose gender is under-represented in the sciences.