Abstract

The immediate objective is to learn techniques of intact polar and apolar lipid analysis (IPL and AL, respectively) in the Hinrichs Lab (MARUM, Bremen, Germany). Analysis will be conducted in several sections from five sediment cores collected in a cross-shelf transect during the LARISSA 2012 research expedition in the Weddell Sea. This work would be undertaken in a three-month graduate student research exchange. The overarching research objective is to assess the changes in sedimentary microbial community structure and the input of organic matter as the Larsen A embayment (Weddell Sea) transitioned from an oligotrophic sub-ice shelf, dark system to a photosynthetic open ocean system. These changes will be verified and related to the ice shelf collapse in space and time. The results will be merged with geochemical (concentrations of methane, sulfate, sulfide, dissolved inorganic carbon, and nutrients), geological (Lead 210 dating, diatom counts and chlorophyll concentration) and genetic profiles (i.e. bacterial and archaeal 16S rDNA sequencing and metageomics data) generated by collaborators in the NSF-funded LARISSA Program.

Menu