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Deep subseafloor biosphere studies seek to answer questions
that range in nature from exploratory and census-level to
the most complex and fundamental in the Earth and life sciences.
Deep subseafloor habitats are vast in scale —it is estimated
that up to 1/3 of the Earth's biomass is harbored in the deep
marine subseafloor [Whitman et al. 1998]— and are physically
and chemically vastly diverse. A common feature among all
deep subseafloor biosphere habitats is that they exist in
the dark, one or more steps removed from the photosynthetic
activity that fuels the surface biosphere. Energy and carbon
cycling in the deep subseafloor biosphere are potentially
important issues in solving global redox and carbon budgets
[Bach et al. 2006]. However, quantification of the magnitude
and activity of this dark biosphere and its organic versus
inorganic energy and carbon sources is difficult, owing to
a dearth of data concerning the nature of these deep ecosystems.
Fundamental questions that have far reaching consequences
for life on Earth and beyond include: What is the nature and
extent of life on Earth? What are the physico-chemical limits
of life on Earth? How metabolically active is the deep subseafloor
biosphere, and what are the most important redox processes?
Are there exotic metabolic processes occurring? How are microbes
dispersed in the deep subseafloor biosphere? How does life
evolve in deeply buried geological deposits beneath the ocean
floor? These questions are diverse and demand interdisciplinary
research approaches in microbiology, molecular biology, geology,
geochemistry, engineering, hydrology and more.
Our research findings have the potential to impact major
current questions such as energy creation, climate change,
and the very nature of evolution of life on Earth. To address
these challenges, we focus and integrate across four broad
C-DEBI Research
Themes:
- Activity in the deep subseafloor biosphere:
function & rates of global biogeochemical processes;
- Extent of life: biomes and the degree
of connectivity (biogeography & dispersal);
- Limits of life: extremes and norms of
carbon, energy, nutrient, temperature, pressure, pH;
- Evolution and survival: adaptation, enrichment,
and repair.
We will address questions within these themes by linking
deep subseafloor biosphere projects into the coherent deep-biosphere
program of C-DEBI. The linked C-DEBI projects embrace a strategy
of "contrast, compare, and integrate" between deep
subseafloor biosphere sites where specific environmental controls,
processes, and dynamics relating to C-DEBI research themes
can be resolved. Our cross-site research agenda can
only be accomplished via an integrative center infrastructure,
which will fundamentally change the nature of how deep subseafloor
biosphere research is conducted, resulting in transformative
advances in this field.
> Our research themes
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