Dr. Verena Heuer

Name:		Dr. Verena Heuer
Department:		Organic Geochemsitry
Job:		Postdoc
Room:		MARUM / 2700
Phone:		+49 421 218 - 65702
Fax:		+49 421 218 - 65715
E-Mail:

Research Interests

My research is aimed at understanding the biogeochemical processes that occur in marine sediments during early diagenesis. I am especially interested in the role of dissolved organic acids like acetate in the cycling of carbon in the deep marine biosphere and in sediments near gas-hydrates. My studies seek to decipher the information encoded in the carbon isotopic signatures of acetate and other volatile fatty acids with the aim to develop a proxy that aids in the identification of dominant biogeochemical processes and pathways. Current projects address the following research problems:

How can bacterial populations survive on buried, recalcitrant organic material for millions of years? Is acetate of biogenic or thermogenic origin an alternative substrate for these organims? Do chemoautotrophic microbes act as primary producers at great sediment depth?
What is the mechanism supporting high acetate levels encountered in some methane-laden environments? Is autotrophic acetogenesis an important process in those systems?

Education

2003	PhD, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Bremen
1993	Diplom (M.Sc.) in Geoecology, University of Bayreuth
1991	B.Sc., University of Canterbury, New Zealand

Positions

since 2004	Postdoctoral fellow at the Research Center Ocean Margins, Dept. of Geosciences, University of Bremen
1999 - 2002	Research assistant in the special research project SFB 261 'The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary: Reconstruction of Mass Budget and Current Systems', University of Bremen
1996 - 1998	Assistant for public relations at the Center of Excellence 'Ecological Development of Post-Mining Landscapes', Brandenburg University of Technology, Cottbus
1991 - 1992	Guest investigator at the Limnological Research Center of the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG)/ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Seagoing Experience

Sept.-October 2009	Organic geochemist during IODP Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment Stage 2 Expedition 322 "Subduction Inputs" with D/V Chikyu
Feb. - March 2009	Organic geochemist during FS Maria S. Merian cruise MSM 11/1 "Mid-Atlantic Ridge Site Surveys of Sediments and Basement in North Pond area in 7 Ma Western Flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge 23°N" - a pre-site survey for the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP)
April - May 2008	Organic geochemist during FS Meteor cruise M76/1 'Process studies in the eastern South Atlantic, Prosa'
Sept - Oct 2005	Pressure core sampling scientist/organic geochemist during IODP Exp. 311 'Cascadia Margin Gas Hydrates' with D/V JOIDES Resolution
June 2005	Organic geochemist during RV Professor Logachev cruise 'METRO/Training through Research 15' to the Black Sea
June - Aug 2004	Organic geochemist during IODP Exp. 301 'Juan de Fuca Hydrogeology' with D/V JOIDES Resolution
Dec 1999 - Feb 2000	Inorganic geochemist during FS Meteor cruises M46/2 and M46/3 to the continental margin off southern Brazil, Uruguay, and the Argentina Basin
July 1999	Student trainee during Trans Mediterranean Cruise MTP II (Marine Science and Technology Program of the European Commission) with RV Aegaio

Publications

Lever, M.A., Heuer, V.B., Morono, Y., Masui, N., Schmidt, F., Alperin, M.J., Inagaki, F., Hinrichs, K.-U., Teske, A. (2010) Acetogenesis in deep subseafloor sediment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank: a synthesis of geochemical, thermodynamic, and gene-based evidence, Geomicrobiology Journal, accepted.
Heuer, V.B., Krüger, M., Elvert, M., Hinrichs, K.-U. (2010) Experimental studies on the stable carbon isotope biogeochemistry of acetate in lake sediments. Organic Geochemistry, 41, 22-30. doi: 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2009.07.004
Pohlman, J.W., Kaneko, M., Heuer, V.B., Coffin, R.B., Whiticar, M. (2009) Methane sources and production in the northern Cascadia margin gas hydrate system, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 287, 504-512. doi: 10.1016/j.epsl.2009.08.037
Heuer V.B., J. W. Pohlman, M. E. Torres, M. Elvert, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2009) The stable carbon isotope biogeochemistry of acetate and other dissolved carbon species in deep sub-seafloor sediments at the northern Cascadia Margin. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 73, 3323-3336. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2009.03.001
Heuer V., M. Elvert, S. Tille, X. Prieto Mollar, L.R. Hmelo, M. Krummen, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2006) Online delta13C analysis of volatile fatty acids in sediment/porewater systems by liquid chromatography-isotope ratio-mass spectrometry. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, 4, 346-357.
Riedel, M., Collett, T., Malone, M., Akiba, F., Blanc-Valleron, M., Ellis, M., Guerin, G., Hashimoto, Y., Heuer, V., Higasi, Y., Holland, M., Jackson, P., Kaneko, M., Kastner, M., Kim, J.-H., Kitajima, H., Long, P, Malinverno, A., Myers, G., Palekar, L., Pohlman, J., Schultheiss, P., Teichert, B., Torres, M., Tréhu, Wang, J., Wortmann, U., and Yoshioka, H., 2006. Gas hydrate transect across northern Cascadia margin. Eos, Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 87(33):325. doi:10.1029/2006EO330002.
Kasten S., Zabel M., Heuer V., and Hensen C. (2003) Processes and Signals of non-steady state diagenesis in deep-sea sediments and their pore waters. In Wefer, G., Mulitza, S., Ratmeyer, V.(eds) The South Atlantic in the Late Quaternary: Reconstruction of Mass Budget and Current Systems. Springer Verlag,.Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, pp. 431-459.
Hüttl R.F. and V. Heuer (1998) Auswirkungen des Braunkohletagebaus auf den Lebensraum Boden. In Barz, W., Hülster, A., Kraemer, K., Ströbele, W. (Hrsg.) Energie und Umwelt: Strategien einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung, ecomed, Landsberg, 55 – 68.

Publications in progress

Lin, Y.-S., Heuer, V.B., Ferdelman, T.G., and Hinrichs, K.-U. Microbial formation of methylated sulfides in the anoxic sediment of Lake Plußsee, Germany, Applied and Enviornmental Microbiology, submitted.
Ertefai, T., Heuer, V.B., Prieto-Mollar, X., Vogt, C., Sylva, S.P., Seewald, J., and Hinrichs, K.-U. The biogeochemistry of sorbed methane in marine sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, submitted.

Technical Reports

Mienert, J., J. Parkes, B.B. Jørgensen, A. Boetius, P.A. Bjørkum, G.Bohrman, G. de Batist, G. Etiope, K. Kormas, V. Heuer, G. Aloisi, V. Diaz del Rio, and R. del Gaudio (2007) Biosphere-geosphere interactions: fluid flow and gas seepage at continental margins. In P. Cochonat et al. (eds) The Deep-Sea Frontier. Science challenges for a sustainable future. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 16-23.
Riedel, M., Collett, T.S., Malone, M.J., and the Expedition 311 Scientists (2006) Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Volume 311. Washington, DC (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc.) doi: 10.2204/iodp.proc.311.2006.
Riedel, M., Collett, T.S., Malone, M.J., and the IODP Expedition 311 Scientists (2006) Stages of gas-hydrate evolution on the northern Cascadia margin. Sci. Drill., 3:18-24. doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.3.04.2006.
Expedition 311 Scientists (2005) Cascadia margin gas hydrates. IODP Prel. Rept., 311. doi:10:2204/iodp.pr.311.2005.
Fisher, A.T., Urabe, T., Klaus, A., and the Expedition 301 Scientists (2005) Juan de Fuca Hydrogeology Proceedings of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Volume 301: College Station TX (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Management International, Inc.). doi:10.2204/iodp.proc.301.2005.
Fisher, A.T., Urabe, T., Klaus, A., and the IODP Expedition 301 Scientists (2005) IODP Expedition 301 installs three borehole crustal observatories, prepares for three-dimensional, cross-hole experiments in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Sci. Drill., 1:6–11. doi:10.2204/iodp.sd.1.01.2005.
Shipboard Scientific Party (2004) Juan de Fuca hydrogeology: The hydrogeologic architecture of basaltic oceanic crust: compartmentalization, anisotropy, microbiology, and crustal-scale properties on the eastern flank of Juan de Fuca Ridge, eastern Pacific Ocean. IOPD Prel. Rept., 301. doi:10.2204/iodp.pr.301.2004.

Presentations at international conferences (2005-2009)

Heuer V., J. Pohlman, M.E. Torres, M. Elvert, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2008) Biogeochemistry of acetate in the deep marine biosphere - new insights from stable carbon isotopic investigations. Gordon Research Conference on Organic Geochemistry, Holderness, NH, USA, August 2008. (oral presentation, invited based on submitted poster abstracts)
Heuer V., J. Pohlman, M. Elvert, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2007) Carbon isotopic compositions of volatile fatty acids as proxies for biogeochemical processes in gas hydrate bearing sediments. In Book of Abstracts, The 23rd International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Torquay, England, September 2007. (oral presentation)
Rossel P., M. Elvert, J. Lipp, V. Heuer, A. Rammette, A. Dibbell, A. Boetius, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2007) Polar and apolar lipids of anaerobic methanotrophic communities from marine seep environments and their relation to environmental conditons. In Book of Abstracts, The 23rd International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Torquay, England, September 2007. (poster presentation)
Lin Y.-S., V. Heuer, W. Bach, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2007) Microbial formation of dimethyl sulfide in anoxic sediment of Lake Plußsee (Germany). In Book of Abstracts, The 23rd International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Torquay, England, September 2007. (poster presentation)
Heuer V., J. Pohlman, M. Elvert, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2007) Carbon isotopic compositions of acetate as proxies for biogeochemical processes in gas hydrate bearing sediments. In Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71, Suppl. S, 17th Goldschmidt Conference, Cologne, Germany, August 2007. (oral presentation)
Böttcher, M.E., A.M. Al-Raei, Y. Hilker, V. Heuer, K.-U. Hinrichs, and M. Segl (2007) Methane and organic matter as sources for excess carbon dioxide in intertidal surface sands: Biogeochemical and stable isotope evidence. In Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 71, Suppl. S, 17th Goldschmidt Conference, Cologne, Germany, August 2007. (poster presentation)
Heuer V., T. Collett, J. Pohlman, M. Holland, P. Schultheiss, M. Riedel, K.-U. Hinrichs, and the IODP Expedition 311 Shipboard Scientific Party (2007) Abundance of gas hydrates in the northern Cascadia Margin - results from pressure core analysis during IODP expedition 311. In Geophysical Research Abstracts 9, 4th General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria, April 2007. (oral presentation)
Teichert, B.M.A., G. Delisle, V. Heuer, A. Lückge, A. Schippers, S. Schlömer, and M. Wiedicke-Hombach (2007) The Simeulue seep - observations on a methane seep in the forearc of Sumatra. In Geophysical Research Abstracts 9, 4th General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria, April 2007. (poster presentation)
Heuer V., S. Tille, N. Finke, M. Elvert, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2006) Carbon isotopic compositons of volatile fatty acids in sediment/pore-water systems measured by isotope-ratio-monitoring liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. In Geophysical Research Abstracts 8, 3rd General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union, Vienna, Austria, April 2006. (oral presentation)
Heuer V., M. Elvert, X. Prieto Mollar, L.R. Hmelo, M. Krummen, J.M. Hayes, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2005) Carbon isotopic compositions of volatile fatty acids in sediment/pore-water systems measured by Isotope-Ratio-Monitoring Liquid Chromatograhy/Mass Spectrometry. In F.J. González-Vila, J.A. González-Pérez and G. Almendros (Eds): Organic Geochemistry: Challenges for the 21st Century. Book of Abstracts. 22nd International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Seville, Spain, September 2005. (oral presentation, presenter: M. Elvert)
Heuer V., M. Elvert, X. Prieto Mollar, L.R. Hmelo, M. Krummen, J.M. Hayes, and K.-U. Hinrichs (2005) Carbon isotopic compositions of volatile fatty acids in sediment/pore-water systems measured by Isotope-Ratio-Monitoring Liquid Chromatograhy/Mass Spectrometry. In Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 7. European Geoscience Union General Assembly 2005, Vienna, Austria, April 2005. (poster presentation)