Keck project: Linkages between seismic and microbial events
Project Managers: Debra Stakes

Lead Scientists: Debra Stakes/Ed DeLong
Lead Engineer: Paul McGill/Gene Massion

The goal of this project is to constrain the linkages between deformation (earthquakes), fluid flow and chemistry, and microbial response across the northern Juan de Fuca Plate. The Juan de Fuca Ridge and the Nootka Transform/Cascadia Subduction Zone will be instrumented with seismometers and chemical sensors during field seasons from 2003-2005.

During 2003, MBARI will fabricate, test, and assist in the deployment of six corehole seismometers and two broadband seismometers on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. The corehole instruments will be placed into existing boreholes created during the 2002 expedition.

The MBARI/Keck development effort will also design and test a prototype deep-sea environmental sample processor (Deep-ESP). This is a coordinated extension of the current ESP effort. The system will be designed to collect and process particle samples in situ to 4000 meters depth, using a format identical to the existing shallow-water ESP. Capabilities for monitoring solid-support microbial detection assays will be incorporated using the existing ESP design. The prototype of a new, pressure-reducing sampling module will be fabricated in 2003-2004. Deep-ESP will also undergo a concept design review, laboratory testing, and refinement.