Incorporation of aged carbon from the ocean floor into the marine carbon cycle and its sediment record
Fluid and gas emissions from the ocean floor are found worldwide and can strongly impact the surrounding marine environments. Even though these emissions might significantly impact future climate, only a few studies provide evidence of incorporating aged carbon into the water column in marine environments. It is still unclear if solely chemoautotrophs directly at vents or seeps are responsible for the uptake of aged carbon or if this aged carbon signal reaches the upper water column and can be taken up by photoautotrophy.
For investigating the uptake of aged carbon by chemo- and photoautotrophy I am examining the microbial communities around hydrothermal vents and methane seeps. I plan to use compound-specific δ13C values and radiocarbon ages to trace the uptake of aged carbon in lipids of chemo- and photoautotrophs in the sediment and within the water column.
This Ph.D. project is part of the research unit of the MARUM Excellence Cluster “The Ocean Floor as RECORDER - Perturbations in the Earth system”. My affiliation at MARUM is the Molecular Paleoclimatology group, where I am advised by Dr. Enno Schefuß.
