Page path:

The Ocean Floor

Research Topics

Photo: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Understanding how biogenic particles change under changing climate on their way to the ocean floor

Photo: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Quantifying carbon and element fluxes to and through the ocean floor and estimating of budgets in the Earth system

Photo: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen

Understanding ocean floor ecosystems under changing environmental conditions based on biological and biogeochemical interactions

Foraminifera. Photo: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen; M. Kucera

Developing scenarios for a ›warmer-than-present world‹ from ocean-floor climate archives with the help of climate models

Key processes involving the ocean floor

Key processes involving the ocean floor and their links to the Research Units of the Cluster. Graphics: MARUM − Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
Key processes involving the ocean floor and their links to the Research Units of the Cluster: Biologically mediated transfer of carbon (C) to and its transformation at the ocean floor, and exchange between the shelf and open ocean are studied in the RECEIVER Unit (green), element fluxes and budgets across the ocean-floor / water interface in the REACTOR Unit (orange), and information on warm climates and environmental conditions of the past in the RECORDER Unit (blue) (DOM / POM: dissolved / particulate organic matter).

Geological processes shape the ocean floor and result in vastly different environments, including

  • mid-ocean ridges where new ocean floor forms,
  • subduction zones where old ocean floor is transferred back into the Earth’s interior,
  • cold seeps and hot vents, both of which release fluids and gases from within the ocean floor, and
  • vast areas and volumes of sediment, which register the history of the ocean and climate.

It is now evident that the ocean floor and its biological communities are anything but static. Life at and within the ocean floor is surprisingly diverse despite the absence of light and other energy limitations, but it is not easily observed nor probed. The ocean-floor ecosystems extend up to 2.5 kilometers beneath the seabed, and are fueled by inadequately explored metabolic processes. More than 80 % of volcanic activity on the Earth occurs on the ocean floor and the volume of seawater circulating through the ocean floor rivals the discharge of all the rivers on the planet. Therefore, the ocean floor is a major driver of our planet’s global element cycles, biogeochemistry, and climate.