Project: 3D Spatial mapping of the energetic return of 1000 metabolisms within the compositional variation of oceanic crusts near mid-ocean ridges

Abstract from C-DEBI:
The oceanic crust near mid-ocean ridge spreading centers is a rich source of reducing chemistries and biologically relevant energy sources. It is here that countless microbial metabolic strategies crowd the hydrothermal emissions billowing into the sea, having reacted with the mantle-derived rock deep within. The relative energetic payoff of disparate strategies—a function of electron donor/acceptor availability—changes as a function of host rock composition, temperature, and water-to-rock ratio. This project has constructed chemical maps of these subsurface environments to all realistic extents of these variables, depicting how subtle changes in each generates changes in solute flux and energetic payoffs.