Instrument Type: Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer

Description from NSF award abstract:
Current estimates suggest that the volume of ocean crust capable of sustaining life is comparable in magnitude to that of the oceans. To date, there is little understanding of the composition or functional capacity of microbial communities in the sub-seafloor, or their influence on the chemistry of the oceans and subsequent consequences for global biogeochemical cycles. This project focuses on understanding the relationship between microbial communities and fluid chemistry in young crustal fluids that are responsible for the transport of energy, nutrients, and organisms in the crust. Specifically, the PIs will couple microbial activity measurements, including autotrophic carbon, nitrogen and sulfur metabolisms as well as mineral oxide reduction, with quantitative assessments of functional gene expression and geochemical transformations in basement fluids. Through a comprehensive suite of in situ and shipboard analyses, this research will yield cross-disciplinary advances in our understanding of the microbial ecology and geochemistry of the sub-seafloor biosphere. The focus of the effort is at North Pond, an isolated sediment pond located on ridge flank oceanic crust 7-8 million years old on the western side of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. North Pond is currently the target for drilling on IODP expedition 336, during which it will be instrumented with three sub-seafloor basement observatories.

The project will leverage this opportunity for targeted and distinct sampling at North Pond on two German-US research cruises to accomplish three main objectives:

1. to determine if different basement fluid horizons across North Pond host distinct microbial communities and chemical milieus and the degree to which they change over a two-year post-drilling period.

2. to quantify the extent of autotrophic metabolism via microbially-mediated transformations in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur species in basement fluids at North Pond.

3. to determine the extent of suspended particulate mineral oxides in basement fluids at North Pond and to characterize their role as oxidants for fluid-hosted microbial communities.

Specific outcomes include quantitative assessments of microbial activity and gene expression as well as geochemical transformations. The program builds on the integrative research goals for North Pond and will provide important data for guiding the development of that and future deep biosphere research programs. Results will increase understanding of microbial life and chemistry in young oceanic crust as well as provide new insights into controls on the distribution and activity of marine microbial communities throughout the worlds oceans.

There are no data about microbial communities in ubiquitous cold, oceanic crust, the emphasis of the proposed work. This is an interdisciplinary project at the interface of microbial ecology, chemistry, and deep-sea oceanography with direct links to international and national research and educational organizations.

The Strytan Hydrothermal Field (SHF; Eyjafjord, northern Iceland) exhibits alkaline (pH ~ 10), hot (up to 78 degrees C), submarine hydrothermal venting, resulting in the formation of numerous saponite towers. We performed a detailed geochemical and microbiological characterization of hydrothermal fluids and precipitates from the site. End-member calculations revealed elevated concentrations of many major and trace elements (e.g., 2.4 mM Na, 3 to 27 uM K, 40 to 120 uM Ca, 10 to 25 uM B, and overall high concentrations of trace elements). We hypothesize that recharge of meteoric water occurs in the mountains south of Eyjafjord, and low temperature alteration of plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine in basalt, and precipitation of calcite, occurs in a closed system. This explains the observed high pH, variable Ca concentrations, and low DIC. CH4, H2, and CO concentrations were all elevated relative to normal seawater (up to 1.41, 5.19, and 0.13 uM, respectively), and a range of δ13C-CH4 was measured. Weathering of pyroxene may produce H2, which combines with CO2 to form abiotic CH4. The abiotic production of H2 and CH4 in a site such as the SHF broadens the range of potential origin of life environments significantly. Intact polar lipids indicate Bacteria dominated all samples except one. Up to 50% of the lipids at this site were archaeal. Bacterial clone sequences were dominated by betaproteobacteria (Dechloromonas sp.), followed by deltaproteobacteria (Desulfovibrio sp.) Archaeal results indicate a dominance of Crenarchaeota, particularly Thermoproteales, followed by Desulfurococcales. More detailed analysis of microbial communities is currently underway.

The Strytan Hydrothermal Field (SHF; Eyjafjord, northern Iceland) exhibits alkaline (pH ~ 10), hot (up to 78 degrees C), submarine hydrothermal venting, resulting in the formation of numerous saponite towers. We performed a detailed geochemical and microbiological characterization of hydrothermal fluids and precipitates from the site. End-member calculations revealed elevated concentrations of many major and trace elements (e.g., 2.4 mM Na, 3 to 27 uM K, 40 to 120 uM Ca, 10 to 25 uM B, and overall high concentrations of trace elements). We hypothesize that recharge of meteoric water occurs in the mountains south of Eyjafjord, and low temperature alteration of plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine in basalt, and precipitation of calcite, occurs in a closed system. This explains the observed high pH, variable Ca concentrations, and low DIC. CH4, H2, and CO concentrations were all elevated relative to normal seawater (up to 1.41, 5.19, and 0.13 uM, respectively), and a range of δ13C-CH4 was measured. Weathering of pyroxene may produce H2, which combines with CO2 to form abiotic CH4. The abiotic production of H2 and CH4 in a site such as the SHF broadens the range of potential origin of life environments significantly. Intact polar lipids indicate Bacteria dominated all samples except one. Up to 50% of the lipids at this site were archaeal. Bacterial clone sequences were dominated by betaproteobacteria (Dechloromonas sp.), followed by deltaproteobacteria (Desulfovibrio sp.) Archaeal results indicate a dominance of Crenarchaeota, particularly Thermoproteales, followed by Desulfurococcales. More detailed analysis of microbial communities is currently underway.

The Strytan Hydrothermal Field (SHF; Eyjafjord, northern Iceland) exhibits alkaline (pH ~ 10), hot (up to 78 degrees C), submarine hydrothermal venting, resulting in the formation of numerous saponite towers. We performed a detailed geochemical and microbiological characterization of hydrothermal fluids and precipitates from the site. End-member calculations revealed elevated concentrations of many major and trace elements (e.g., 2.4 mM Na, 3 to 27 uM K, 40 to 120 uM Ca, 10 to 25 uM B, and overall high concentrations of trace elements). We hypothesize that recharge of meteoric water occurs in the mountains south of Eyjafjord, and low temperature alteration of plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine in basalt, and precipitation of calcite, occurs in a closed system. This explains the observed high pH, variable Ca concentrations, and low DIC. CH4, H2, and CO concentrations were all elevated relative to normal seawater (up to 1.41, 5.19, and 0.13 uM, respectively), and a range of δ13C-CH4 was measured. Weathering of pyroxene may produce H2, which combines with CO2 to form abiotic CH4. The abiotic production of H2 and CH4 in a site such as the SHF broadens the range of potential origin of life environments significantly. Intact polar lipids indicate Bacteria dominated all samples except one. Up to 50% of the lipids at this site were archaeal. Bacterial clone sequences were dominated by betaproteobacteria (Dechloromonas sp.), followed by deltaproteobacteria (Desulfovibrio sp.) Archaeal results indicate a dominance of Crenarchaeota, particularly Thermoproteales, followed by Desulfurococcales. More detailed analysis of microbial communities is currently underway.

The Strytan Hydrothermal Field (SHF; Eyjafjord, northern Iceland) exhibits alkaline (pH ~ 10), hot (up to 78 degrees C), submarine hydrothermal venting, resulting in the formation of numerous saponite towers. We performed a detailed geochemical and microbiological characterization of hydrothermal fluids and precipitates from the site. End-member calculations revealed elevated concentrations of many major and trace elements (e.g., 2.4 mM Na, 3 to 27 uM K, 40 to 120 uM Ca, 10 to 25 uM B, and overall high concentrations of trace elements). We hypothesize that recharge of meteoric water occurs in the mountains south of Eyjafjord, and low temperature alteration of plagioclase, pyroxene and olivine in basalt, and precipitation of calcite, occurs in a closed system. This explains the observed high pH, variable Ca concentrations, and low DIC. CH4, H2, and CO concentrations were all elevated relative to normal seawater (up to 1.41, 5.19, and 0.13 uM, respectively), and a range of δ13C-CH4 was measured. Weathering of pyroxene may produce H2, which combines with CO2 to form abiotic CH4. The abiotic production of H2 and CH4 in a site such as the SHF broadens the range of potential origin of life environments significantly. Intact polar lipids indicate Bacteria dominated all samples except one. Up to 50% of the lipids at this site were archaeal. Bacterial clone sequences were dominated by betaproteobacteria (Dechloromonas sp.), followed by deltaproteobacteria (Desulfovibrio sp.) Archaeal results indicate a dominance of Crenarchaeota, particularly Thermoproteales, followed by Desulfurococcales. More detailed analysis of microbial communities is currently underway.

The East Lau Spreading Center (ELSC) and Valu Fa Ridge (VFR) comprise a ridge segment in the southwest Pacific Ocean where rapid transitions in the underlying mantle chemistry manifest themselves as gradients in seafloor rock geochemistry. The investigators studied the geology and microbial diversity of three silicate rock samples and three inactive sulfide chimney samples collected, from north to south, at the vent fields Kilo Moana, ABE, Tui Malila, and Mariner. This is the first study of microbial populations on basaltic andesite, which was sampled at Mariner vent field. Silicate rock geochemistry exhibits clear latitudinal trends that are mirrored by changes in bacterial community composition. Alphaproteobacteria, Epsilonproteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes are most common on a silicate collected from Kilo Moana and their proportions decrease linearly on silicates collected further south. Conversely, a silicate from Mariner vent field hosts high proportions of a unique lineage of Chloroflexi unrelated (<90% sequence similarity) to previously recovered environmental clones or isolates, which decrease at ABE and are absent at Kilo Moana. The exteriors of inactive sulfide structures are dominated by lineages of sulfur oxidizing Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Epsilonproteobacteria, while the interior of one chimney is dominated by putative sulfur-reducing Deltaproteobacteria. A comparison of bacterial communities on inactive sulfides from this and previous studies reveals the presence of a clade of uncultured Bacteroidetes exclusive to sulfidic environments, and a high degree of heterogeneity in bacterial community composition from one sulfide structure to another. In light of the heterogeneous nature of bacterial communities observed here and in previous studies of both active and inactive hydrothermal sulfide structures, the presence of numerous niches may be detected on these structures in the future by finer scale sampling and analysis.

Note: This project was supported by NSF award OCE-0732369 as add-on work to the original proposal. The proposal abstract is available from NSF.

The investigators deployed sediment traps adjacent to two active hydrothermal vents at 9°50’N on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) to assess the variability in bacterial community structure associated with plume particles on the timescale of weeks to months, to determine whether an endemic population of plume microbes exists, and to establish ecological relationships between bacterial populations and vent chemistry. Automated rRNA intergenic spacer analysis (ARISA) indicated that there are separate communities at the two different vents and temporal community variations between each vent. Correlation analysis between chemistry and microbiology indicated that shifts in the coarse particulate (>1 mm) Fe ⁄ (Fe+Mn+Al), Cu, V, Ca, Al, 232Th, and Ti as well as fine-grained particulate (<1 mm) Fe ⁄ (Fe+Mn+Al), Fe, Ca, and Co are reflected in shifts in microbial populations. 16S rRNA clone libraries from each trap at three time points revealed a high percentage of Epsilonproteobacteria clones and hyperthermophilic Aquificae. There is a shift toward the end of the experiment to more Gammaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria, many of whom likely participate in Fe and S cycling. The particle-attached plume environment is genetically distinct from the surrounding seawater. While work to date in hydrothermal environments has focused on determining the microbial communities on hydrothermal chimneys and the basaltic lavas that form the surrounding seafloor, little comparable data exist on the plume environment that physically and chemically connects them. By employing sediment traps for a time-series approach to sampling, the investigators show that bacterial community composition on plume particles changes on timescales much shorter than previously known.

Description from NSF award abstract:
Pristine fluids from a typical ridge-flank hydrothermal system have never been sampled, mainly because it has not been possible to locate a site of focused discharge where representative samples could be collected. The PIs have located a small basement feature, Dorado outcrop, on 23 m.y.-old seafloor on the eastern flank of the East Pacific Rise that they plan to sample to determine the fluid composition, and to assess the rate of discharge from the outcrop, so that they can quantify the chemical impact of this hydrothermal system. They plan an 18-day expedition that combines the surveying capabilities of the AUV Sentry (bathymetric, sub-bottom sonar, photo mosaics, water column anomalies) and an ocean-class vessel capable of collecting high-quality multi-beam data and CTD samples, and supporting the survey and sampling capabilities of the ROV Jason II for collection of spring and plume fluids, heat flow data, sediment push cores, and still and video photography. These data and samples will be combined hopefully to generate the first well-constrained estimates of hydrothermal flows from Dorado outcrop. This expedition will result in the collection of samples and data from a “fire hose” of ridge-flank, hydrothermal system, challenging the commonly held view that discharge from ridge flank hydrothermal systems occurs primarily from diffuse seeps.