Assoc. Prof. Dr. Natascha Riedinger 

Hot vent and cold seep systems are two types of natural features found on the ocean floor, where gases and fluids escape from beneath the ocean floor into the overlying waters. These fluid systems have chemical compositions very different from seawater, and these chemicals support biological communities, alter the rocks they flow through, and affect the chemistry of the ocean. Discharged metal-rich fluids can settle on the ocean floor or form into particles, which can travel long distances, impacting even distant areas of the ocean floor. In sediments, metals either build up or get released back into the water over time, and this process can influence the sediment composition, altering primary signals typically used to reconstruct ancient environmental conditions. Geochemical studies at locations of seafloor discharge are critical to fully understand the processes driving the expulsion of chemically altered fluids and the impact that the discharge of these fluids has on the ocean chemistry and biosphere.

During this fellowship two contrasting environments of submarine fluid discharge will be addressed: A vent system in the Southern Ocean and a cold seep offshore Southern California. These projects are in collaboration with scientists from MARUM at the University of Bremen, and this fellowship will greatly benefit the data interpretation from an expedition to the Southern Ocean (2019) and help us plan and design the program for a future expedition to Southern California.