Data from Chicxulub crater (NERC grant NE/P006736/1)
Cell count data from the Chicxulub crater. Grant abstract: The deep subsurface is recognised to be an environment that supports a large and diverse microbial biosphere, and yet we still know very little about how microorganisms grow in this environment, what their spatial diversity is and how this diversity is controlled by subsurface geochemical conditions. Previous research has primarily focused on deep-ocean sediments. Work in these environments has shown that geochemical interfaces are important for determining the diversity of the subsurface biosphere. Little is known about how the subsurface biosphere in marine environments compares to that in continental subsurface environments. Our laboratory will acquire core samples collected from the peak ring of the 66 million-year old Chicxulub impact structure buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico in April-May 2016 during IODP Expedition 364. This end-Cretaceous impact structure is hypothesised to have been responsible for causing the extinction of the dinosaurs and ~75% of all other life at this time. The drill core will be retrieved with microbiological contamination control to ~1.5 km depth. Thus, the drill core offers the opportunity to investigate the subsurface microbiology of a continental site and also how the microbial diversity relates to a unique, but well-defined subsurface lithologic sequence. In this project we propose to use these cores to gain new insights into the diversity of microorganisms in the subsurface. In this project we will: 1) Quantify the biomass of microorganisms through the core and correlate it to the lithologies to understand how microbial life in the continental deep subsurface is influenced by lithology, 2) Specifically investigate how microbial abundance and diversity is correlated to impact lithologies to understand how impacts can disrupt the deep subsurface biosphere, 3) Culture and use '-omics' methods such as metagenomics to understand how the functional capabilities and metabolisms of organisms correlate to the environment and lithology through the core to gain a better understanding of microbial biogeochemical processes in the deep subsurface in general and specifically in an impact crater, 4) Use the above data to understand more generally how life recolonises impact craters and how craters might provide a habitat for life despite otherwise catastrophic effects on large surface dwelling life.
dataset
https://www.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/accessions/index.html#item120691
function: download
http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13607393
eng
ICDP drilling of Chicxulub crater
geoscientificInformation
publication
2008-06-01
Microorganisms
NGDC Deposited Data
Impact structures
Core samples
revision
2022
NERC_DDC
-91.0000
-88.0000
22.0000
21.0000
creation
1979
YUCATAN PENINSULA [id=799700]
2016-04-01
2016-06-01
creation
2018-10-11
notApplicable
Staining and counting. See: Morgan J. et al. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program: Chicxulub: Drilling the K-Pg Impact Crater. Volume 364, IODP (2018).
publication
2011
false
See the referenced specification
publication
2010-12-08
false
See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF
MS Excel
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School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Edinburgh
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pointOfContact
School of Physics and Astronomy
University of Edinburgh
James Clerk Maxwell Building, Peter Guthrie Tait Road
EDINBURGH
EH9 3FD
principalInvestigator
British Geological Survey
Environmental Science Centre,Keyworth
NOTTINGHAM
NG12 5GG
United Kingdom
+44 115 936 3100
pointOfContact
2024-04-11