We present a method for the measurement of hydrogenase (H(2)ase) activity in aquatic sediments. The assay is based on the H(2)ase-mediated isotopic exchange between dissolved molecular hydrogen (H(2)) and water. A slurry of sediment material is incubated with a tritiated hydrogen (HT) headspace in a glass syringe on a rotary shaker. The method includes a procedure for preparing HT from radiolab...

Along a west-to-east axis spanning the Galicia Bank region (Iberian margin) and the Mediterranean basin, a reduction in surface primary productivity and in seafloor flux of particulate organic carbon was mirrored in the in situ organic matter quantity and quality within the underlying deep-sea sediments at different water depths (1200, 1900 and 3000 m). Nematode standing stock (abundance and bi...

Sulfate reduction is the predominant anaerobic microbial process of organic matter mineralization in marine sediments, with recent studies revealing that sulfate reduction not only occurs in sulfate-rich sediments, but even extends to deeper, methanogenic sediments at very low background concentrations of sulfate. Using samples retrieved off the Shimokita Peninsula, Japan, during the Integrated...

Marine subsurface environments such as deep-sea sediments, house abundant and diverse microbial communities that are believed to influence large-scale geochemical processes. These processes include the biotransformation and mineralization of numerous petroleum constituents. Thus, microbial communities in the Gulf of Mexico are thought to be responsible for the intrinsic bioremediation of crude ...

Microbial communities and their associated metabolic activity in marine sediments have a profound impact on global biogeochemical cycles. Their composition and structure are attributed to geochemical and physical factors, but finding direct correlations has remained a challenge. Here we show a significant statistical relationship between variation in geochemical composition and prokaryotic comm...

Reconstructions of past nutrient distribution and deep ocean circulation patterns are typically inferred from the 513C and Cd composition of benthic foraminifera from deep sea sediments; the modern oceanic distribution of 5 t3C and Cd reflect the biological cycling of nutrients (e.g. PO4) as modified by deep ocean circulation. This correlation between Cd and PO4 is the basis for using Cd, as re...

In deep-sea geothermal rift zones, the dispersal of hydrothermal fluids of moderately-high temperatures typically forms subseafloor mounds. Major mineral components of the crust covering the mound are barite and metal sulfides. As a result of the continental rifting along the Red Sea, metalliferous sediments accumulate on the seafloor of the Atlantis II Deep. In the present study, a barite crus...

the qom formation in naragh area, with 185 meter thickness, is exposed about 25 km northeast of delijan. this formation in the studied area, lithologically, consists of shale, gravely limestone, and sandy limestone, with thin, medium to thick bedded and massive limestons. it disconformably covers the lower red formation and is covered by recent alluvium. in this research, the role of large fora...

Sulfate reduction rates in the surface sediments from 17 stations from an along-slope transect (1,300 m) and from a cross-slope transect (855–4,766 m) were determined in the continental margin sediments of the Benguela Upwelling system. Profiles at all sites in the upwelling area showed increasing sulfate reduction rates from near zero at the surface to a peak at 2–5 cm (up to 29 nmol cm23 d21)...