SGER: Design, Construction and Testing of Prototype Instrument for Contamination-Free Sampling of Crustal Fluids from Deep-Sea Boreholes

这是一项探索性研究（SGER）小额赠款，用于支持海洋地壳流体井下采样器（DS）的设计，建造和测试; DS的后续版本也将允许井下原位培养。在钻孔底部直接收集流体应避免在流体上升到地面期间对流体成分施加的潜在变化。DS将用于研究基底地壳地球化学和物理条件下的微生物群落结构。 PI与伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的克雷格泰勒小组合作，将证明从老化的沉积物掩埋的海洋基底地壳中收集未污染流体的可行性。 开发一种新的采样设备，可以从这种极端环境中收集无污染的样品是一项冒险的奋进。 因此，该小组将：1）进行初步的岸基钻孔模拟; 2）使用溶解的、颗粒和微生物示踪剂来测试入口系统获得清洁样品的能力;和3）比较化学，微生物多样性，和社区结构的原始地壳流体在钻孔底部与那些收集整个钻孔和海水，以建立性质和规模的任何影响，拟议的工作是探索海底生物圈的一个先驱尝试。 使用来自这个广阔且未经探索的新环境的真实样本来阐明微生物的代谢过程和生态的潜力很大，发现具有新代谢途径的新型生物体的潜力也很大。

This is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) award to support design, building and testing of a Downhole Sampler (DS) for ocean crustal fluids; subsequent versions of the DS will also permit downhole in situ incubations. Direct collection of fluids at the bottom of the borehole should avoid the potential changes imposed on the fluid composition during its ascent to the surface. The DS will be used to study the microbial community structure in the context of geochemical and physical conditions of the basement crust. The PI, in collaboration with Craig Taylor's group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, will demonstrate the feasibility of collecting uncontaminated fluids from aging, sediment-buried ocean basement crust. Development of a new sampling device that can collect contamination-free samples from this extreme environment is a risky endeavor. Accordingly, the team will: 1) Perform preliminary shore-based borehole simulations; 2) use dissolved, particle and microbial tracers to test the ability of the inlet system to obtain clean samples; and 3) compare the chemistry, microbial diversity, and community structure of pristine crustal fluids at the bottom of the borehole with those collected throughout the borehole and with seawater in order to establish the nature and magnitude of any influence of the borehole on the ascending fluids.The proposed work represents a pioneer attempt to explore the biosphere present in the sub-sea floor. The potential to elucidate the metabolic processes and ecology of microorganisms with authentic samples from this vast and unexplored new environment is high, as is the potential for discovery of novel organisms with new metabolic pathways.