{"id":247,"date":"2015-12-28T02:09:20","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T02:09:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.99.100:8080\/award\/quantification-and-spatial-heterogeneity-of-microbial-biomass-in-subsurface-igneous-marine-basement\/"},"modified":"2019-08-12T10:31:55","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T17:31:55","slug":"quantification-and-spatial-heterogeneity-of-microbial-biomass-in-subsurface-igneous-marine-basement","status":"publish","type":"award","link":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/award\/quantification-and-spatial-heterogeneity-of-microbial-biomass-in-subsurface-igneous-marine-basement\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantification and spatial heterogeneity of microbial biomass in subsurface igneous marine basement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The subseafloor basaltic aquifer is known to be home to microbial communities, at least in young ocean crust. \u00a0Based on its predicted size, modeled using temperature gradients and 120\u00b0C as a cutoff for microbial life, it is predicted to host a biomass equal to or larger than that found in subseafloor sediments. \u00a0However, to date, these predictions remain unconstrained, with no real data available. \u00a0The goal of our C-DEBI project was to develop a method for quantifying cell biomass in subseafloor basement samples and, if possible, to scan the same samples with deep-UV scanning technology to determine the spatial heterogeneity of microbial samples. \u00a0Through two visits to the lab of Fumio Inagaki at Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science Technology (JAMSTEC) in Kochi Japan, and with training from Yuki Morono, we were able to develop a method and successfully quantify microbes in subseafloor basaltic samples from the Louisville Seamount Chain (IODP Expedition 330, 65-75 Ma rocks) and the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank (3 Ma rocks). \u00a0Through our international collaboration, we now know that biomass in these basement environments are generally low (&lt;104 cells cm<sup>-3<\/sup>) and this will allow us to model global biomass distributions in subseafloor basement. Deep-UV analysis of rocks was attempted, but results remained difficult to interpret. \u00a0Therefore, this analysis remains a future goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":[],"award_type":[11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/awards\/247"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/awards"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/award"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"award_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.darkenergybiosphere.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/award_type?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}