Collaborative Research: Venting Outside the Box - Extending the Known Limits to Seafloor Hydrothermal Circulation and the Chemosynthetic Life it Supports

合作研究：开箱即用的通风——扩展海底热液循环及其支持的化学合成生命的已知极限

• 批准号: 1061863
• 负责人: Chris German
• 金额: $ 30.2万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-15 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1061863&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Venting; Outside; Box

A new and unusual set of hydrothermal vents that are the deepest yet discovered and that are hosted in unusual rock types on the seafloor have been found recently on the Cayman Rise in the Caribbean Sea by an international teams of scientists from the US and UK. This project is a joint activity between NSF and NASA that follows up on this discovery and allows the geochemical and biological sampling and analysis of these unique systems. One of the sites to be explored is the Piccard vent field which at 5000 meters water depth is the deepest hydrothermal vent site known. It has evidence for phase separation at the seafloor and may host the hottest vent temperatures ever measured (in excess of 450C). The other is the von Damm vent site which is hosted in ultramafic rocks and has chimneys made of sulfides instead of carbonates, making it distinctly different from the well studied Lost Cities vent system which is also hosted in ultramafic rocks. Researchers funded by NSF will sample vent and near vent fluid chemistry, examine chimney mineralogy, and the local geological setting. A focus will be to determine the extent to which organic compounds are being made through abiotic geochemical processes. Researchers funded by NASA will sample the microbial and macrobiological life forms that inhabit these extreme environments and link their findings to the site geochemistry. Comparisons will be made with other known vent systems. Broader impacts of the work include student and postdoc training and significant public outreach through engagement of National Geographic which intends to feature this research on their Oceanus television program.

一个由美国和英国科学家组成的国际团队最近在加勒比海开曼海隆发现了一组新的、不同寻常的热液喷口，它们是迄今发现的最深的，存在于海底不寻常的岩石类型中。该项目是美国国家科学基金会和美国国家航空航天局之间的一项联合活动，是对这一发现的后续行动，并允许对这些独特的系统进行地球化学和生物采样和分析。要勘探的地点之一是皮卡德喷口，它的水深5000米，是已知的最深的热液喷口。它有证据表明海底存在相分离，并可能拥有有史以来测量到的最热喷口温度(超过450摄氏度)。另一个是冯·达姆喷口遗址，它赋存于超镁铁岩中，烟囱由硫化物而不是碳酸盐制成，这使得它与研究得很充分的失落城市喷口系统截然不同，后者也存在于超镁铁岩中。由NSF资助的研究人员将对喷口和喷口附近的流体化学进行采样，检查烟囱矿物学和当地的地质环境。重点将是确定有机化合物在多大程度上是通过非生物地球化学过程产生的。由NASA资助的研究人员将对生活在这些极端环境中的微生物和大型生物生命形式进行采样，并将他们的发现与现场的地球化学联系起来。将与其他已知的排气系统进行比较。这项工作的更广泛影响包括学生和博士后培训，以及通过参与国家地理杂志的重大公众宣传活动，国家地理打算在其海洋电视节目中突出这一研究。