EESS talk on "CRUSH2LIFE"
Event details
Date | 20.11.2018 |
Hour | 12:15 › 13:15 |
Speaker |
Dr Martyn Tranter, Professor of Polar Biogeochemistry, Bristol Glaciology Centre, School of Geographical Science, Bristol University, UK is Professor of Polar Biogeochemistry at the University of Bristol, specialising in biogeochemical reactions in the cryosphere, with particular expertise in the impact of cold region processes on global biogeochemical cycles. He is the Lead PI on an NERC Large Grant, Black and Bloom, was a member of the Scientific Steering Committee of the Subglacial Lake Ellsworth Project, and has been a long standing International Project Partner with the NSF McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER Program. Recently, he was an international collaborator on the NSF WISSARD project, following through to the NSF SALSA project (both lead by John Priscu, Montana State), which will access Subglacial Lake Mercer in the austral summer of 2018-19. |
Location | |
Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Abstract:
CRUSH2LIFE: not quite blood from a stone, but close. The production of H2 and CH4 by crushing sediment from Subglacial Lake Whillans.
CRUSH2LIFE aims to make a fundamental advance in our understanding of how some of the thermomechanical energy expended during glacial erosion is transferred into compounds that underpin the existence of microbial communities in subglacial environments and produce greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4). The crushing of silicate rocks forms free radicles on the surface as Si-O-Si bonds are broken. The Si-O• and Si• radicles produce H2 and H2O2 when they interact with water. The former is directly used by microbes as an energy source, while the latter, we contend, partially degrades more complex, refractory organic matter into smaller bio-utilisable molecules. These hypotheses will be illustrated using experimental data from the crushing of fine-grained sediment from Subglacial Lake Whillans.
CRUSH2LIFE: not quite blood from a stone, but close. The production of H2 and CH4 by crushing sediment from Subglacial Lake Whillans.
CRUSH2LIFE aims to make a fundamental advance in our understanding of how some of the thermomechanical energy expended during glacial erosion is transferred into compounds that underpin the existence of microbial communities in subglacial environments and produce greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4). The crushing of silicate rocks forms free radicles on the surface as Si-O-Si bonds are broken. The Si-O• and Si• radicles produce H2 and H2O2 when they interact with water. The former is directly used by microbes as an energy source, while the latter, we contend, partially degrades more complex, refractory organic matter into smaller bio-utilisable molecules. These hypotheses will be illustrated using experimental data from the crushing of fine-grained sediment from Subglacial Lake Whillans.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- EESS - IIE
Contact
- Prof. Tom Battin, SBER