"What is the most rewarding aspect of being an astrobiologist and would you recommend it to a student wishing to enter that field of study?"
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Sediment-buried basement deep biosphere
Project Investigators: Jan Amend, James Cowen, Brian Glazer, Michael Rappe
Other Project Members
Huei-Ting Lin (Doctoral Student)Sean Youndbluth (Doctoral Student)Micheal Matzinger (Doctoral Student)Ryan Matsumoto (Undergraduate Student)Lisa Nakata (Research Staff)Soo Huey Teh (Undergraduate Student)Amanda Ricardo (Undergraduate Student)Kristina Mojica (Doctoral Student)Summary
There is growing evidence that a substantial subseafloor biosphere extends throughout the immense volume of aging basement (basaltic rock) of the ocean crust. Since most ocean basement rock is buried under thick, impermeable layers of sediment, the fluids circulating within the underlying ocean basement are usually inaccessible for direct studies. Circulation Obviation Retrofit Kit (CORK) observatories affixed to Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) boreholes offer an unprecedented opportunity to study biogeochemical properties and microbial diversity in circulating fluids from deep ocean basement. UH-NAI post doctoral fellows (e.g., Brian Glazer, Andrew Boal)
Astrobiology Roadmap Objectives:
- Objective 1.1: Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets
- Objective 3.3: Origins of energy transduction
- Objective 4.1: Earth's early biosphere
- Objective 5.1: Environment-dependent, molecular evolution in microorganisms
- Objective 5.2: Co-evolution of microbial communities
- Objective 5.3: Biochemical adaptation to extreme environments
- Objective 6.1: Environmental changes and the cycling of elements by the biota, communities, and ecosystems
- Objective 6.2: Adaptation and evolution of life beyond Earth
Project Progress
A. We have secured major funding ($1.2 M) from NSF-Microbial Research (a Microbial Observatory grant) to continue our investigation into the deep-subsurface biosphere via CORK Observatories at the Juan de Fuca Ridge flanks. We were able to leverage UH-NAI research funds and personnel, as well as EO opportunities to obtain this NSF funding. We have significantly modified our existing seafloor CORK instrumentation sled (the GeoMICROBE sled).
Cartoon illustrating hypothetical relationship among fluid flow, temperature and redox zones within the buried basement crust, as influenced by the recharge and discharge zones associated with exposed rocky outcrops on the flanks of a mid-ocean ridge such as JFR. Dashed arrows represent advective fluid flow and small solid arrows indicate diffusive flow. (modified from Wheat et al. 2002)Photo of GeoMICROBE instrument sled setting on CORK observatory installed in IODP borehole on flanks of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. GeoMICROBE instruments are sampling deep basement fluids flowing up a PVDF fluid delivery line.Cartoon depicting the tracer transport project on Juan de Fuca Ridge flanks. Particles (microbe proxies) and dissolved tracers will be injected into single injection well and then their appearance monitored at several observation wells.- HANDBOOK OF STAR FORMING REGIONS
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- A search for Main Belt Comets in Pan-STARRS 1
- A search for primordial water from deep in the Earth's mantle
- A spectroscopically unique Main Belt asteroid: 10537 (1991 RY16)
- A Supertree Analysis of the Metazoan Phylogeny
- Acquisition and Installation of a new Cameca ims 1280 ion microprobe
- Acquisition and Installation of Witec Confocal Raman microscope scanning system
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- Assessing the likelihood of supernova impact of protoplanetary disks
- Carbonate Lithologies on Devon Island, Canada
- Chemistry and biology of ultramafic-hosted alkaline springs
- Chemistry of the NH3/H2O system
- DIVERSITY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE UNIQUE TROPICAL PHYLUM PLACOZOA
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- Ecology of a Hawaiian lava cave microbial mat
- FMARS Long Duration Mission: a simulation of manned Mars exploration in an analogue environment, Devon Island, Canada
- Formation and Detection of Hot-Earth Objects in Systems with Close-in Jupiters
- Formation and the Prospects of the Detection of Habitable Planets in Extreme Planetary Systems
- Formation of Molecular Hydrogen via Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Hydrocarbon Ices in the Interstellar Medium
- Formation of Planetesimals in a Dynamically Evolving Nebula
- FU ORIONIS ERUPTIONS
- Ice Ages on Mars
- Ice at the Mars Phoenix Landing Site
- Ice on Main Belt Comets
- Icelandic subglacial lakes
- Mechanisms of Marine Microbial Community Structuring
- Mechanistical Studies on the Non-Equilibrium Chemistry of Unusual Carbon Oxide in Solar System Ices
- Modeling grain surface reaction pathways for large organic molecules
- Molecular Deuteration on grain surfaces
- NEWBORN BINARIES
- Observations and Models of comet 17P/Holmes
- Origin and Activation Mechanism of Main Belt Comets
- Origin of Irregular Satellites
- Recovery of comet 85P/Boethin for the Deep Impact Extended Mission
- Sediment-buried basement deep biosphere
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- Sleeping through the Arctic Martian Sol
- Spectropolarimetric studies of stars with hot jupiters
- TES study of intracrater low albedo deposits, Amazonis Planitia, Mars
- The delivery of short-lived radionucleides to the solar system
- The effect of lunar-like satellites on the orbital infrared lightcurves of Earth-analog planets
- The Main Belt distribution of basaltic asteroids
- The Size Distribution of Small KBOs
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- Ultra-violet processing of ices in the Rosette Nebula
- Unveiling the evolution and interplay of ice and gas in quiescent clouds
- Variable Young Stellar Objects Survey (VYSOS)
- Water on Mars
- X-ray- and UV-bright low-mass stars in the solar neighborhood