{"id":103,"date":"2020-11-05T07:03:44","date_gmt":"2020-11-05T07:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/msm96\/?p=103"},"modified":"2020-11-05T07:05:39","modified_gmt":"2020-11-05T07:05:39","slug":"the-mysteries-of-deep-sea-sediments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oceanblogs.org\/msm96\/2020\/11\/05\/the-mysteries-of-deep-sea-sediments\/","title":{"rendered":"The mysteries of deep-sea sediments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

— Deutscher Text folgt unten —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We as geochemists are excited about sediments\u2026 and pore water! If you think it is all the same in the deep-sea, you are wrong. The sediments are very diverse and studying this diversity is also the purpose of our cruise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can already see and feel this \u2013 oh yes: \u201cfeel the mud\u201d \u2013 when we start sampling the MUC cores. Just by \u201cspooning\u201d the sediment, we feel if it is liquid (on top), very sticky, or soft. If it is sticky we already get nervous in the cool room: will there be sufficient pore water for our analyses? We take very good care of our sediment and appreciate every cm. We sample in the cool room at 4\u00b0C to keep the in-situ deep-sea temperature, sometimes in an oversized plastic bag (glove bag) filled with nitrogen to prevent oxidation of anoxic samples. It is hard to move in there and just by trying to put the spoon with sediment into the vial it looks like a mud explosion in the bag when not paying attention to every tiny move.\u00a0 Three hours later, after centrifuging and filtering, we look at our precious 5 mL pore water and would do anything to protect it after all this effort for a few mL! If you believe it or not, you can do a lot with these 5 mL: nutrient measurements, trace metal measurements, with a few mL more you can get nice rare earth elements distributions. This helps us to understand organic degradation processes and trace metal cycling on the ocean floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n