Monica Kerr-Riess: Distribution of Microbes Within Sulfide Chimney Walls

Sulfide Samples From the Deep

While aboard the R/V Thomas G. Thompson I will be collecting samples from hydrothermal vents at Axial Seamount for my Master’s research. I will be conducting genetic, chemical, and mineralogical analyses of sulfide and core samples from the chimneys. Theses analyses will be used to determine the gradients along which particular microbes live within the rock structure of the hydrothermal chimneys. I am particularly interested in whether or not there are microbes which preferentially exist with particular minerals or chemicals in the sulfides and what effect the microbes may have on the mineralogy and chemistry of the sulfides.