Contributors | Affiliation | Role |
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Wheat, C. Geoffrey | University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) | Principal Investigator, Contact |
Soenen, Karen | Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI BCO-DMO) | BCO-DMO Data Manager |
These data will be submitted in Orcutt et al.: “Subsurface oceanic crust microbe-mineral biogeography from multi-year incubations at North Pond, Mid-Atlantic Ridge”
Similar, relevant data were published in Wheat et al., 2020.
OsmoSampler descriptions:
Once on deck, OsmoSamplers were sectioned. Individual coils of Teflon tubing (each ~300 m long) were removed, sealed, and labeled. Each coil was then sectioned into 1.2 m lengths and the fluid expelled into acid washed (60C for 14 hours in 10%HCl) and rinsed (18 mega ohm water) micro centrifuge tubes. Centrifuge tubes were labeled and packaged for shipment.
In the laboratory aliquots from these centrifuge tubes were diluted before being analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICPOES). In addition the fresh water reservoir for each of the OsmoSampler pumps was analyzed for salinity to asses if the samplers over pumped and if so, by how much.
Additional descriptions for the recovered samplers can be found at Edwards et al. (2012) and Wheat et al. (2011).
Fluids were analyzed with an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICPOES) as described in Wheat et al. (2020). Analytical precision is listed as 2%, but individual runs were ofter lower.
BCO-DMO processing notes:
File |
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ion_concentrations.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 55.58 KB) MD5:f8a0b9f52a82dd3756592ced50e90564 Primary data file for dataset ID 820188 |
Parameter | Description | Units |
Borehole_type_coil | Borehole, type and coil | unitless |
Sample_number | Sample number | unitless |
Date | Samling data in ISO format (yyyy-mm-dd) | unitless |
Ba | Barium (Ba) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
B | Boron (B) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
Mn | Manganese (Mn) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
Fe | Iron (Fe) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
Li | Lithium (Li) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
Si | Silicon (Si) concentration | micromoles per kg (umol/kg) |
Longitude | Sampling location - longitude, west is negative | decimal degrees |
Latitude | Sampling location - latitude, south is negative | decimal degrees |
Dataset-specific Instrument Name | ICPOES |
Generic Instrument Name | Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer |
Generic Instrument Description | Also referred to as an Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscope (ICP-AES). These instruments pass nebulised samples into an inductively-coupled gas plasma (8-10000 K) where they are atomised and excited. The de-excitation optical emissions at characteristic wavelengths are spectroscopically analysed. It is often used in the detection of trace metals. |
Dataset-specific Instrument Name | ROV Jason-II |
Generic Instrument Name | ROV Jason |
Dataset-specific Description | OsmoSamplers that were recovered on R/V Atlantis Expedition AT39-01 with the ROV Jason-II |
Generic Instrument Description | The Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) Jason is operated by the Deep Submergence Laboratory (DSL) at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). WHOI engineers and scientists designed and built the ROV Jason to give scientists access to the seafloor that didn't require them leaving the deck of the ship. Jason is a two-body ROV system. A 10-kilometer (6-mile) fiber-optic cable delivers electrical power and commands from the ship through Medea and down to Jason, which then returns data and live video imagery. Medea serves as a shock absorber, buffering Jason from the movements of the ship, while providing lighting and a bird’s eye view of the ROV during seafloor operations. During each dive (deployment of the ROV), Jason pilots and scientists work from a control room on the ship to monitor Jason’s instruments and video while maneuvering the vehicle and optionally performing a variety of sampling activities. Jason is equipped with sonar imagers, water samplers, video and still cameras, and lighting gear. Jason’s manipulator arms collect samples of rock, sediment, or marine life and place them in the vehicle’s basket or on "elevator" platforms that float heavier loads to the surface. More information is available from the operator site at URL. |
Website | |
Platform | R/V Atlantis |
Report | |
Start Date | 2017-10-02 |
End Date | 2017-11-02 |
NSF Award Abstract:
Seawater circulates through the upper part of the oceanic crust much like groundwater flows through continental aquifers. However, in the ocean this seawater circulation, many times heated by buried magmatic bodies, transports and releases 25% of the Earth's heat. The rate of fluid flow through ocean crust is estimated to be equal to the amount of water delivered by rivers to the ocean. Much of what we know of this subseafloor fluid flow comes from studies in the eastern Pacific Ocean on ocean crust created by medium and fast spreading mid-ocean ridges. These studies indicate that seawater and its circulation through the seafloor significantly impact crustal evolution and biogeochemical cycles in the ocean and affect the biosphere in ways that are just now beginning to be quantified and understood. To expand this understanding, this research focuses on fluid flow of seafloor generated by slow spreading ridges, like those in the Atlantic, Indian and Arctic Oceans because it is significantly different in structure, mineralogy, and morphology than that formed at fast and intermediate spreading ridges. This research returns to North Pond, a long-term; seafloor; fluid flow monitoring site, drilled and instumented by the Ocean Drilling Program in the Atlantic Ocean. This research site was punctured by boreholes in which fluid flow and geochemical and biological samplers have been deployed for a number of years to collect data and samples. It also provides resources for shipboard and on-shore geochemical and biological analysis. Broader impacts of the work include sensor and technology development, which increases infrastructure for science and has commercial applications. It also provides training for students and the integration of education and research at three US academic institutions, one of which is an EPSCoR state (Mississippi), and supports a PI whose gender is under-represented in sciences and engineering. Public outreach will be carried out in conjunction with the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations.
This project completes a long-term biogeochemical and hydrologic study of ridge flank hydrothermal processes on slow-spreading, 8 million year old crust on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The site, North Pond, is an isolated northeast-trending sediment pond, bounded by undersea mountains that have been studied since the 1970s. During Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 336 in 2011 and an expedition five months later (2012), sensors, samplers, and experiments were deployed in four borehole observatories drilled into the seafloor that penetrated into volcanic crust, with the purpose of monitoring changes in hydrologic properties, crustal fluid composition and mineral alteration, among other objectives. Wellhead sampling in 2012 and 2014 already revealed changes in crustal fluid compositions; and associated pressure data confirm that the boreholes are sealed and overpressured, reflecting a change in the formation as the boreholes recover from drilling disturbances. This research includes a 13-day oceanographic expedition and use of on-site robotically operated vehicles to recover downhole instrument packages at North Pond. It will allow the sampling of crustal fluids, recovering pressure data, and measuring fluid flow rates. Ship- and shore-based analyses will be used to address fundamental questions related to the hydrogeology of hydrothermal processes on slow-spread crust.
The mission of the Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) is to explore life beneath the seafloor and make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.
C-DEBI provides a framework for a large, multi-disciplinary group of scientists to pursue fundamental questions about life deep in the sub-surface environment of Earth. The fundamental science questions of C-DEBI involve exploration and discovery, uncovering the processes that constrain the sub-surface biosphere below the oceans, and implications to the Earth system. What type of life exists in this deep biosphere, how much, and how is it distributed and dispersed? What are the physical-chemical conditions that promote or limit life? What are the important oxidation-reduction processes and are they unique or important to humankind? How does this biosphere influence global energy and material cycles, particularly the carbon cycle? Finally, can we discern how such life evolved in geological settings beneath the ocean floor, and how this might relate to ideas about the origin of life on our planet?
C-DEBI's scientific goals are pursued with a combination of approaches:
(1) coordinate, integrate, support, and extend the research associated with four major programs—Juan de Fuca Ridge flank (JdF), South Pacific Gyre (SPG), North Pond (NP), and Dorado Outcrop (DO)—and other field sites;
(2) make substantial investments of resources to support field, laboratory, analytical, and modeling studies of the deep subseafloor ecosystems;
(3) facilitate and encourage synthesis and thematic understanding of submarine microbiological processes, through funding of scientific and technical activities, coordination and hosting of meetings and workshops, and support of (mostly junior) researchers and graduate students; and
(4) entrain, educate, inspire, and mentor an interdisciplinary community of researchers and educators, with an emphasis on undergraduate and graduate students and early-career scientists.
Note: Katrina Edwards was a former PI of C-DEBI; James Cowen is a former co-PI.
Data Management:
C-DEBI is committed to ensuring all the data generated are publically available and deposited in a data repository for long-term storage as stated in their Data Management Plan (PDF) and in compliance with the NSF Ocean Sciences Sample and Data Policy. The data types and products resulting from C-DEBI-supported research include a wide variety of geophysical, geological, geochemical, and biological information, in addition to education and outreach materials, technical documents, and samples. All data and information generated by C-DEBI-supported research projects are required to be made publically available either following publication of research results or within two (2) years of data generation.
To ensure preservation and dissemination of the diverse data-types generated, C-DEBI researchers are working with BCO-DMO Data Managers make data publicly available online. The partnership with BCO-DMO helps ensure that the C-DEBI data are discoverable and available for reuse. Some C-DEBI data is better served by specialized repositories (NCBI's GenBank for sequence data, for example) and, in those cases, BCO-DMO provides dataset documentation (metadata) that includes links to those external repositories.
Funding Source | Award |
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NSF Division of Ocean Sciences (NSF OCE) |