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Seminar – Prof. Drew Syverson
October 18, 2022 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Prof. Drew Syverson, University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Title: Exploring the chemical and physical controls on the bioavailability of nutrients delivered to seawater from seafloor hydrothermal environments
Abstract: Nearly 75% of Earth’s modern tectonic boundaries are located along mid-ocean ridge (MOR) spreading systems, which are host to unique hydrothermal environments that sustain extremophile life while delivering critical nutrients to the marine biosphere at and below the seafloor. These hydrothermal environments on Earth may provide potential insight on geochemical processes that control the habitability of early Earth and of water-rich exoplanets. Yet, our understanding of the physical and chemical controls influencing oceanic crust alteration, which determine whether nutrients and bio-essential metals are delivered to the marine biosphere from this source, are not completely understood. In this talk, I will present geochemical modeling and experimental results that: 1) Explore how differences in subseafloor physicochemical conditions along Earth’s modern MOR system influences the mobilization and fate of metals and sulfur endowed in super-heated fluids, and 2) Present results on how changes in atmospheric-oceanic oxygenation conditions will control the marine weathering P-cycle and the bioavailability of P derived from the weathering of oceanic crust. Overall, these results suggest that secular changes in mantle heat flux and atmospheric-oceanic oxygenation conditions will have a large influence on nutrient/metal delivery to seawater and bioavailability on early Earth and on potentially water-rich exoplanets.
Zoom Meeting Details:
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