Linkages to Microbial Diversity and Their Environment Within Active Submarine Hydrothermal Systems

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

In 1998 four large suflide structures were recovered from the Mothra hydrothermal field on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The four distinctly different samples to be examined in this study provide an opportunity to examine the phylogenetic and metabolic diversity of microorganisms within the environmental gradients that comprise a range of conditions in a mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal setting. The mineralogical-chemical-microbiological gradients witin these samples will be thoroughly mapped and characterized.