.......................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ iii Table of Figures ....................................................................................................

Sub-recent sediments in modern lakes are ideal to study early diagenetic processes with a combination of physical, chemical, and biological approaches. Current developments in the rapidly evolving field of geomicrobiology have allowed determining the role of microbes in these processes (Nealson and Stahl, 1997; Frankel and Bazylinski, 2003). Their distribution and diversity in marine sediments ...

The East Lau Spreading Center (ELSC) and Valu Fa Ridge (VFR) comprise a ridge segment in the southwest Pacific Ocean where rapid transitions in the underlying mantle chemistry manifest themselves as gradients in seafloor rock geochemistry. We studied the geology and microbial diversity of three silicate rock samples and three inactive sulfide chimney samples collected, from north to south, at t...

The distribution of selected aromatic compounds and microbiology were assessed in superficial sediments from Suruí Mangrove, Guanabara Bay. Samples were collected at 23 stations, and particle size, organic matter, aromatic compounds, microbiology activity, biopolymers, and topography were determined. The concentration of aromatic compounds was distributed in patches over the entire mangrove, an...