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- Organische Geochemie
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- Hinrichs Lab - MARUM - Fellow E. Reeves
Hinrichs Lab - MARUM - Fellow E. Reeves
MARUM - Fellowship: Dr. Eoghan Reeves
| Duration: | April 2010 - April 2012 |
| Funding: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) DFG-Research Center/Excellence Cluster "The Ocean in the Earth System" (MARUM) |
| Principal Investigator(s): | Eoghan Reeves |
| Involved scientists in the Hinrichs Lab: | Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Xavier Prieto-Mollar |
| Partners: | Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Bach (MARUM/Universität Bremen) |
Abstract
The primary goal of my MARUM postdoctoral fellowship is to place better constraints on the formation of organosulfur compounds (OSC's) in seafloor hydrothermal fluids. In models that argue for a hyperthermophilic chemoautotrophic origin of life, OSC's are thought to have played a pivotal role in the transition from prebiotic chemistry to primitive metabolism. Constraining OSC formation and reactivity in hydrothermal systems may therefore be critical to establishing the role hydrothermal systems may have played in the emergence of life. Unfortunately, our current understanding of OSC behavior in hydrothermal solutions is poor and few experimental and field studies have been conducted. In collaboration with the laboratories of Profs. Kai Hinrichs and Wolfgang Bach, I plan to conduct hydrothermal organic experiments to address this issue in the new hydrothermal geochemistry laboratory under construction in the Petrology of the Ocean Crust group. Within the Hinrichs group, I will develop analytical techniques for the determination of low molecular weight OSC concentrations in experimental hydrothermal fluids.
As part of my fellowship I will also participate in several seagoing expeditions to active hydrothermal systems to address other research questions. The first of these expeditions aims to determine the origin of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal fluids at the Menez Gwen hydrothermal site, Mid-Atlantic Ridge aboard the R/V Meteor (with ROV Quest 4000m) in September 2010. Menez Gwen is a relatively shallow (~800m) system hosted in basalt and characterized by venting of fluids (<300C) with low hydrogen concentrations but anomalously high methane and longer-chain hydrocarbon concentrations relative to other basalt-hosted hydrothermal systems. Chemical and isotopic characterization of the organic composition of Menez Gwen fluids may therefore provide valuable insights into the origins of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal solutions.
The second seagoing expedition will be to the Manus Basin in June 2011 aboard the R/V Sonne (again with ROV Quest 4000m). In this expedition I hope to obtain a better understanding of the time series evolution of vent fluid compositions in Manus Basin hydrothermal systems which are known to be heavily influenced by the presence of acidic magmatic fluid inputs. Very little is known about the variability of these systems with time and, given the advent of seafloor mining of hydrothermal sulfide minerals in the region, it is imperative that further studies be conducted.
The primary goal of my MARUM postdoctoral fellowship is to place better constraints on the formation of organosulfur compounds (OSC's) in seafloor hydrothermal fluids. In models that argue for a hyperthermophilic chemoautotrophic origin of life, OSC's are thought to have played a pivotal role in the transition from prebiotic chemistry to primitive metabolism. Constraining OSC formation and reactivity in hydrothermal systems may therefore be critical to establishing the role hydrothermal systems may have played in the emergence of life. Unfortunately, our current understanding of OSC behavior in hydrothermal solutions is poor and few experimental and field studies have been conducted. In collaboration with the laboratories of Profs. Kai Hinrichs and Wolfgang Bach, I plan to conduct hydrothermal organic experiments to address this issue in the new hydrothermal geochemistry laboratory under construction in the Petrology of the Ocean Crust group. Within the Hinrichs group, I will develop analytical techniques for the determination of low molecular weight OSC concentrations in experimental hydrothermal fluids.
As part of my fellowship I will also participate in several seagoing expeditions to active hydrothermal systems to address other research questions. The first of these expeditions aims to determine the origin of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal fluids at the Menez Gwen hydrothermal site, Mid-Atlantic Ridge aboard the R/V Meteor (with ROV Quest 4000m) in September 2010. Menez Gwen is a relatively shallow (~800m) system hosted in basalt and characterized by venting of fluids (<300C) with low hydrogen concentrations but anomalously high methane and longer-chain hydrocarbon concentrations relative to other basalt-hosted hydrothermal systems. Chemical and isotopic characterization of the organic composition of Menez Gwen fluids may therefore provide valuable insights into the origins of hydrocarbons in hydrothermal solutions.
The second seagoing expedition will be to the Manus Basin in June 2011 aboard the R/V Sonne (again with ROV Quest 4000m). In this expedition I hope to obtain a better understanding of the time series evolution of vent fluid compositions in Manus Basin hydrothermal systems which are known to be heavily influenced by the presence of acidic magmatic fluid inputs. Very little is known about the variability of these systems with time and, given the advent of seafloor mining of hydrothermal sulfide minerals in the region, it is imperative that further studies be conducted.