M.Sc. Christian Breuer

E-Mail: breuer"@"uni-bremen.de


University of Bremen
Department of Geosciences
Klagenfurter Straße
GEO Building - Room 3040
28334 Bremen
PO Box 330440
Germany

CV:

PhD-Project:

Abundance and speciation of As, Sb, and Se in hydrothermal fluids


Metalloids such as arsenic, antimony and selenium are ubiquitously present in the aquatic environment and occur as dissolved species in different oxidation states depending on the redox potential (Eh), pH, adsorption, light, temperature and biological activity. They are important due to their toxicity, and so significant to human and animal health. Concentrations in the environment can vary markedly because of the geology and human activity (e.g. mining, industrial activity).

Hydrothermal systems have come into the focus of interest in the last 30 years because of their unknown and uncertain role in the global ocean system. They form from seawater penetrating into the upper crust through cracks and fissures and creating a convection cell by heating up the seawater, with the heat resulting from magmatic activity. The chemistry of the host rock and of the heated fluids change due to water-rock interaction.

For my thesis, I study hydrothermal fluids from different settings and systems like the Menez Gwen hydrothermal system at the MAR but also back-arc basins systems like in the Manus Basin. I want to find out how much arsenic is carried by hydrothermal activity to the worldwide ocean systems and also additional if vent organisms can embed arsenic.

- under construction -

Expeditions:

Research interests:

- marine geochemistry
- submarine hydrothermal systems
- transport of metalloids in hydrothermal systems
- hydrothermal fluid geochemistry with emphasis on metalloids as well as δ2H and δ18O
- unstable isotope geochemistry and geochronology

Teaching:

SS 2011:
Laborübungen aquatische Geochemie

Publications:

Arning, E.T., Lückge, A., Breuer, C., Gussone, N., Birgel, D., Peckmann, J., (2009) Genesis of phosphorite crusts off Peru. Marine Geology, 262, 68 - 81.

Talks:

Breuer, C., Ruiz-Chancho, M., Pichler, T.: On the fate of arsenic in the Menez Gwen hydrothermal system, MAR: AGU Fall Meeting 2011, San Francisco, CA.