Life on the Rocks -- July 24 Bigelow Café Scientifique Focuses on the Deep Biosphere

Dr. Orcutt (second from the left) examines freshly collected subsurface rocks with other scientists aboard the RV JOIDES Resolution, the flagship scientific ocean-drilling vessel of the United States. Photo by Jen Magnusson.

EAST BOOTHBAY, ME – Microbial biogeochemist Dr. Beth Orcutt, one of Bigelow Laboratory’s newest senior research scientists, will discuss her research on microbial ecosystems deep in marine sediments and the oceanic crust at Bigelow Laboratory’s July 24 Café Scientifique at 6 p.m. in the Boothbay Harbor Opera House at 86 Townsend Avenue. Her talk is titled Buried Alive—Life on the Rocks Beneath the Seafloor.

“Roughly 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by marine sediments and oceanic crust, and there could be as many as thirty to seventy times more microbes living beneath the seafloor than are found floating on the ocean’s surface or living in soils,” Orcutt said. “Considering how important surface marine microbes are to global processes and cycles—production of oxygen and regulation of carbon dioxide, for example—the microbes living in deep marine sediments, in the ocean’s crust, and in hydrothermal vents may also be playing key roles on the planet. But we hardly know anything about them yet.”

Orcutt is developing the Bigelow Deep Biosphere Laboratory to address an array of questions about the microbes living in these deep environments, including how they are able to grow and survive under conditions of extreme energy nutrient limitation, and their genetic connection to surface microbial communities.

Before joining the Laboratory in April 2012, Orcutt was a member of the research team in the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University in Denmark. She holds a Ph.D. in Marine Sciences from the University of Georgia, and has an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Marine Biology and Biological Oceanography at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Her recent work with the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations has included research expeditions to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to establish deep subseafloor observatories and collect samples of the microbes that live in the unseen habitats beneath the ocean.

The Laboratory’s Café Scientifique gatherings are informal discussions about scientific issues and society, current research, and the latest news from the field.  They are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2012 summer Café Scientifique program is available on the Laboratory’s website (www.bigelow.org).

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, non-profit center for global ocean research, ocean science education, and technology transfer.  A recognized leader in Maine's emerging innovation economy, the Laboratory’s research ranges from microbial oceanography to the large-scale biogeochemical processes that drive ocean ecosystems and global environmental conditions.