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.

来自美国和英国的国际科学家团队最近发现了一套新的和不寻常的水热通风孔，这些通风孔最近发现了最深的尚未发现并以不寻常的岩石类型托管。 该项目是NSF和NASA之间的关节活动，在此发现中遵循，并允许对这些独特系统的地球化学和生物学采样和分析。 要探索的地点之一是月皮通风口场，在5000米处的水深是已知的最深的水热位点。 它有证据表明海底的相位分离，并可能持有有史以来测量的最热的排气温度（超过450℃）。 另一个是von damm的通风口，该站点托有超镁铁质岩石，并用硫化物而不是碳酸盐制成烟囱，这与研究经过良好的丢失城市通风口系统截然不同，该系统也托管在超镁铁质岩石中。 由NSF资助的研究人员将采样通风孔和接近排气流体化学，检查烟囱矿物学以及当地的地质环境。 重点是确定通过非生物地球化学过程制造有机化合物的程度。 由NASA资助的研究人员将对居住在这些极端环境中的微生物和宏观生物学生命形式进行采样，并将其发现与现场地球化学联系起来。 比较将与其他已知通风系统进行。 这项工作的更广泛的影响包括学生和博士后培训以及通过参与国家地理的大量公众宣传，该地理旨在在其Oceanus电视节目中进行这项研究。