C-DEBI Newsletter – November 15, 2013
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Sample and data requests for IODP Expedition 348 are now opened to shore-based scientists. The deadline to request samples is November 30, 2014. To request samples:
- Familiarize yourself with the expedition goals and plans by reading the IODP Expedition 348 Scientific Prospectus: NanTroSEIZE Plate Boundary Deep Riser 3 at http://publications.iodp.org/scientific_prospectus/348/index.html
- Register a new account at the new TAMU Sample and Data request system: http://web.iodp.tamu.edu/sdrm/
- Register your sample and data requests for IODP Expedition 348. The Sample Allocation Committee (SAC) will review all sample requests. Sample and data requests found in conflict with shipboard requests may be asked to collaborate with shipboard scientists.
Schmidt Ocean Institute: Pre-Proposals Invited for Oceanographic Research on R/V Falkor in 2016
Submissions will be excepted through December 6, 2013.
NSF: Discovery Research K-12 (DRK-12)
NSF: Ocean Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (OCE-PRF)
The Division of Ocean Sciences (OCE) offers postdoctoral research fellowships to provide opportunities for scientists early in their careers to work within and across traditional disciplinary lines, develop partnerships, and avail themselves of unique resources, sites and facilities. Full proposal target date: January 13, 2014.
IODP: Apply to Sail: Two Indian Ocean Expeditions
Publications
The past decade of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) fostered a significant increase in deep biosphere investigations in the marine sedimentary and crustal environments, and scientists are well poised to continue this momentum into the next phase of IODP. In the final months of the recent phase of IODP, twenty- four deep biosphere scientists from around the world (China-2, EU-5, Japan-6, USA-11) gathered together in Florence, Italy (right) in association with the Goldschmidt 2013 conference, to discuss new deep biosphere discoveries and make recommendations for continuing deep biosphere research in the next phase of IODP. The goals of this workshop were to evaluate recent findings in a global context, to synthesise available biogeochemical data, to foster thermodynamic and metabolic activity modeling, to identify regional targets for future targeted sampling and dedicated expeditions, to foster collaborations, and to highlight the accomplishments of deep biosphere research within IODP. Read the report on pages 22 and 26 of the latest ECORD newsletter written by C-DEBI Activity Theme Team Leader B. Orcutt, Research Grantee H. Mills and Director J. Amend.
Cyclic 100-ka (Glacial-Interglacial) Migration of Subseafloor Redox Zonation on the Peruvian Shelf, in PNAS
The coupling of subseafloor microbial life to oceanographic and atmospheric conditions is poorly understood. Contreras et al. examined diagenetic imprints and lipid biomarkers of past subseafloor microbial activity to evaluate its response to glacial-interglacial cycles in a sedimentary section drilled on the Peruvian shelf (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 201, Site 1229). Multiple and distinct layers of diagenetic barite and dolomite, i.e., minerals that typically form at the sulfate−methane transition (SMT), occur at much shallower burial depth than the present SMT around 30 meters below seafloor. These shallow layers co-occur with peaks of 13C-depleted archaeol, a molecular fossil of anaerobic methane-oxidizing Archaea. Present-day, non-steady state distributions of dissolved sulfate also suggest that the SMT is highly sensitive to variations in organic carbon flux to the surface shelf sediments that may lead to shoaling of the SMT. Reaction-transport modeling substantiates our hypothesis that shallow SMTs occur in response to cyclic sediment deposition with a high organic carbon flux during interglacials and a low organic carbon flux during glacial stages. Long diffusion distances expectedly dampen the response of deeply buried microbial communities to changes in sediment deposition and other oceanographic drivers over relatively short geological time scales, e.g., glacial-interglacial periods. However, their study demonstrates how dynamically sediment biogeochemistry of the Peru Margin has responded to glacial-interglacial change and how these changes are now preserved in the geological record. Such changes in subsurface biogeochemical zonation need to be taken into account to assess the role of the subseafloor biosphere in global element and redox cycling.
The Deep Carbon Observatory will be holding a workshop in Costa Rica Feb 18-21, 2014 targeting early career scientists working on the behavior of carbon rich systems at extreme conditions (including life in the deep subsurface). Details about the workshop and a link to the adobe online application form can be found on the workshop website at: http://deepcarbon.net/feature/dco-early-career-scientist-workshop-apply-now. Successful applicants will have 100% of their travel reimbursed! Note that the deadline is coming up Friday, November 22nd.
C-DEBI at the AGU Fall Meeting
C-DEBI will return to the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco this December. We hope to see you at the exhibitors booth and many C-DEBI-related sessions such as Deep Biosphere Research: Presence, Diversity and Activity of Microbes (see more in the 8/1 newsletter). Tell us what other sessions/activities to advertise and we will see you there!
Two workshops aimed at developing new IODP proposals for the Atlantic Ocean will take pace in Brazil early next year. Full and partial travel support is available for a limited number of U.S. participants, including graduate students and early career scientists.
- Paleoceanography of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin (February 4-6, 2014; Maresias, São Paulo): This workshop aims to develop an integrated drilling strategy to obtain high-quality tectono-sedimentary and paleoceanographic records for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Brazilian Equatorial Margin to improve our knowledge of the response of the regional physical and biological systems to (a) the opening and expansion of the South Atlantic, and (b) long- and short-term changes in global climate, particularly the extreme greenhouse events, and Cenozoic cooling. The deadline to apply is December 7, 2013. For more information, please visit: http://usssp-iodp.org/workshop/bem/
- Deep Drilling of the Amazon Continental Margin (March 24-26, 2014; Buzios, Rio de Janeiro): This workshop will discuss potential IODP drilling of the Foz do Amazonas basin that includes the Amazon Fan. Three major research themes will be addressed during the workshop: (1) Cenozoic tectonic, climatic, and biotic evolution of the terrestrial Amazon and origins of the transcontinental Amazon River and of the Amazon Fan; (2) Amazon margin gravity tectonics on long and short time-scales, including submarine landslides and tsunamogenic events; and (3) microbial activity, gas hydrates, fluid flow, and diagenesis. The deadline to apply is January 1, 2014. For more information, please visit: http://usssp-iodp.org/workshop/amazon/
COSEE: Professional Development Workshop for Early Career Scientists
ISSM 2014: Ninth International Symposium on Subsurface Microbiology
Registration deadline is Feb 28, 2014.
Don’t forget to email me with any items you’d like to share in future newsletters! You are what makes our deep biosphere community!
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