U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research: Organic Matter Preservation in the Ocean

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

0128796 Hedges This award supports John Hedges and students from Washington University in a collaboration with Gerhard Kattner of the Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven, Germany. The project will have several foci, including the study of export of organic matter from rivers to the ocean, biogeochemistry of tropical systems, dynamics of dissolved organic matter in natural waters, and preservation of organic materials in marine sediments. Both groups are actively developing analytical methods for organic materials in environmental samples. In particular, the project will produce a method for analysis of the stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of individual amino acids and their stereoisomers. In addition, the US group will learn the high-performance liquid chromatographic method now practiced by the AWI group fro ultra-sensitive analysis of amino acids as well as their methods for characterizing the molecular weight distribution of samples of dissolved organic matter. The work plan provides for extensive participation by graduate students in the international travel and research.