We have been working on designs to measure temperatures in vents and to then collect the vent structure for study of the mineral and microbe distribution within the structure. I will help with the vent sampling and mineralogical and geochemical analysis on board and after return to our labs at Arizona State.

What questions are you trying to answer and why?

Observations in many vent fields have shown a variety of types of vents and how they change in shape as they grow. The different types of vents imply that the geochemical environment varies from vent to vent, and changes in individual vents as they grow. We want to see if those changes make a difference in the kind of microbes that first colonize the vent, and how the kinds of microbes change as the vents grow. We hope to use these observations to design laboratory systems to allow us to further explore these questions.

Why is this research important? What are the benefits?

Hydrothermal vents on the seafloor may have existed since the early days of Earth’s history, and vent microbes are thought to be among the earliest forms of life. Studying the changes in microbial communities in growing vents may give us a window into the early evolution of life in these vent systems. Also, the better we understand how the biologic communities in present-day vents relate to, and interact with the geochemical environment helps us to understand how this important seafloor habitat influences the overall geochemical balance in the Earth.

What’s your educational background and what lured you into marine research?

I have a B.S. in geology from the University of Oregon and a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from Penn State. I’ve since taught in the Dept. of Geological Sciences and the Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University. I’ve been intrigued with seafloor hydrothermal systems since they were discovered, but only thought of applying my background in experimental simulations of high pressure and temperature conditions to those systems a few years ago. Now I’m totally hooked on studying the interface between biology and geology on the seafloor.