Friday, July 29, 2011

"Life In the Dead Zone" Cruise continued...

So back in the "Dead Zone", during sample taking, things get pretty crazy. You want to work quickly, because people are waiting to either get their samples at that depth, or they are waiting for the next depth. Either way, efficiency is important, but so is being careful in collecting the samples. Wash and rinse three times with the sample water is the rule. Whether it is a 100 mL jar or a 20 L carboy.


Dr. Jeff Cornwell and Mike Owens took a sediment sample in an anoxic area of the bay. The sample leaked an inky black substance that Jeff identified as hydrogen sulfide and pyrite. The smell was definitely hydrogen sulfide! Which brings me to an interesting bit of biochemistry. Bacteria in the anoxic areas of the bay are using elements other than oxygen as their terminal electron acceptors. There is a whole list of ions that they go through, each one is more of an energy trade off. In a simpler view, these bacteria are respiring using elements other than oxygen. When they get down to sulfur, it costs about the same amount of energy to use it as the bacteria gain from it.

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