EAGER Collaborative Research: The Basalt-Hosted Biosphere Observatory at North Pond, Advanced Instrumentation for Transformative Science

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。该项目的近期目标是获得和建造两个仪器包，作为大西洋中脊微生物实验（MARME）计划的一部分，这些仪器包将与IODP钻孔观测站（称为CORKs）接口。该国际计划利用新的跨学科方法来阐明海洋地下水文，地球化学和微生物成分之间的联系和交换率。仪器包是必不可少的，以实现海洋微生物监测和评价的目标，以确定7- 8 Ma年龄的玄武岩基底内的微生物群落的起源和性质，在22 N的大西洋中脊西侧的一个孤立的沉积物“池塘”，称为北池塘。北塘的微生物群落将在其水文地球化学环境的背景下进行表征。选择该地点的原因是：1）玄武岩基底较年轻（10 Ma），适合容纳活性微生物; 2）基底岩石上的沉积物覆盖层足够深，允许钻头良好穿透; 3）在DSDP和ODP腿期间，该地点已钻探多次，因此存在有关系统水文和地球化学的信息。这个项目为一个更大的多学科研究提供了信息，该研究涉及结晶岩石中的深层生物圈，解决了以下重要问题：1）年轻山脊侧翼微生物群落的性质？2)微生物在这种环境中的生长机制？3)在氧化和还原条件下，微生物在矿物风化中的作用是什么？4)这个细菌群落的接种源5)微生物群落的组成和生理如何受到海底水文地质的影响？这些问题最有效的解决方法是通过使用长期海底观测站，这允许在钻井的初始扰动后重新建立原位流体、热和化学条件。该项目是一个更大的研究工作的一部分，分为三个主要阶段，包括第一阶段的现场调查，这是在2009年1月完成。钻探探险将是第二阶段，在此期间，将安装3个密封井眼观测站，作为国际海洋发展方案赞助的巡航的一部分（国际海洋发展方案677提案，完整版）。该项目将直接支持第三阶段，即部署和回收海底仪器包，以便与CORKs接口，1）通过监测地层流体压力和温度来测量系统中的流体流量，2）部署GeoMICROBE Sled，用于从CORKs内指定深度层位收集流体样本，进行超过1？5年时间尺度。压力和温度测量提供了现场水文和热条件的基本约束，所有现场微生物和建模实验都是从这些条件设计的。更广泛的影响：MARME项目和相关的IODP钻探将是自IODP第201航次以来最大的深海生物圈协调调查，该航次侧重于海洋沉积物。该项目将利用新颖的多学科方法，大大促进我们对大西洋中脊基底岩石中深海生物圈的了解。相对于海洋沉积物，玄武岩基底对获得用于微生物分析的高质量样品提出了更多的挑战，使用软木观测站进行此类研究对于推动这一学科的发展至关重要。因此，该项目符合IODP的许多主要科学目标。该项目奠定的基础将为今后对深层生物圈进行基于观测的调查提供必要的基础设施和动力。它将支持许多本科生和研究生研究项目，并促进跨三大洲，亚洲，北美和欧洲的合作研究和教育交流。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The immediate goals of this project are to acquire and build two instrument packages that will be interfaced with IODP borehole observatories, known as CORKs, as part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge Microbiological Experiments (MARME) program. This international program utilizes novel interdisciplinary approaches to elucidate the linkages and rates of exchange between the hydrological, geochemical and microbiological components of the oceanic subsurface. The instrument packages are essential for achieving the over-arching goals of MARME to determine the origin and nature of microbial communities in situ within basaltic basement of 7-8Ma age below an isolated sediment "pond" on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge at 22N, known as North Pond. The microbial communities of North Pond will be characterized in the context of their hydrogeochemical environment. This site was chosen because 1) the basaltic basement is suitably young ( 10 Ma) to harbor active microorganisms, 2) the sediment cover over the basement rock is sufficiently deep to permit good penetration of the drill bit, 3) the site has been drilled several times before during DSDP and ODP legs, thus information exists regarding the hydrology and geochemistry of the system. This project feeds into a much larger multi-disciplinary study of the deep biosphere within crystalline rocks that addresses important questions such as 1) nature of microbial communities in young ridge flanks? 2) mechanisms of microbial growth in such environments? 3) What is the role of microbes in mineral weathering under oxidizing and reducing conditions? 4) source of inoculum for this bacterial community? 5) How microbial community composition and physiology is affected by the subseafloor hydrogeology? Questions as these are most effectively addressed through the use of long term subseafloor observatories, which permit in situ fluid, thermal, and chemical conditions to re-establish after the initial disturbance from drilling. This project is one part of a much larger research effort that is divided into three major phases, including a site survey as the first phase, which was completed in January, 2009. The drilling expedition will be the second phase, during which 3 sealed borehole observatories will be installed as part of an IODP-sponsored cruise (IODP 677 Proposal, Full). This project will directly support the third phase, which is to deploy and recover seafloor instrumental packages to be interfaced with the CORKs that will 1) measure fluid flow in the system by monitoring formation fluid pressures and temperatures, and 2) deploy a GeoMICROBE Sled for collecting fluid samples from specified depth horizons within the CORKs for microbiological and geochemical analyses over 1 ? 5 year time scales. The pressure and temperature measurements provide the basic constraints of the in situ hydrological and thermal conditions from which all of the in situ microbiological and modeling experiments are designed. Broader Impacts: The MARME project and associated IODP drilling would be the largest coordinated investigation of the deep marine biosphere since IODP leg 201, which focused on marine sediments. This project will utilize novel and multidisciplinary approaches that will significantly advance our understanding of the deep marine biosphere in the basement rocks of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. Relative to marine sediments, the basaltic basement poses more challenges for obtaining quality samples for microbiological analysis, and the use of CORK observatories for such studies is essential to move this discipline forward. As such, this project meets many of the primary scientific objectives of the IODP. The foundation laid by this project will provide the necessary infrastructure and momentum for future observatory-based investigations of the deep biosphere. It will support numerous undergraduate and graduate research projects, and foster collaborative research and educational exchange across three continents, Asia, North America and Europe.