Andreas Türke

I spent 3 months at the IPGP in Paris in the working group of Prof. Dr. Bénédicte Ménez with the financial support of GLOMAR. The aim of my research was to use infrared and scanning electron microscopy to identify organic molecules associated with clay minerals in weathered (sub-)seafloor volcanic rocks.

I received training on the infrared and scanning electron microscopes at the IPGP and looked specifically at minerals that form under low temperature conditions (<20 °C). These are associated with microbial organic matter, from which I was able to learn about changing physical and chemical conditions within volcanic rocks at and below the seafloor. When these rocks age and interact with water, their mineralogical and chemical composition, as well as their physical properties, change. These changes coincide with differences in the distribution of organic matter and the type of minerals they are associated with.

The results I obtained during my GLOMAR research stay are incredibly promising and will hopefully be an important asset to the second publication of my PhD.

The working group of Bénédicte Ménez was extremely welcoming and friendly. I highly benefited from their experience in preparing contamination free samples, which is very important, when working with organic molecules. Furthermore I received a lot of advice in how to approach analysis of rock samples with a scanning electron microscope, which made the identification of organics much easier. I will be able to transition this approach to my upcoming work here in Bremen, being more time efficient in the future.

I thank GLOMAR for the financial support, without which I would not have been able to conduct this research and gain invaluable experience of spending time at the IPGP as a guest scientist.