Biogeochemical cycling and authigenic mineral formation in suboxic tropical mobile mud belts

Low tide exposure of bioturbated highs and mobile mud ponds in eroding tidal flat region of migrating mudbank deposit. Gas flux chamber (Prof. John Mak) is present in foreground

Principal Investigators: Robert C. Aller and Josephine Y. Aller

Funded by NSF Chemical Oceanography Program

Students Supported:
M.S.: Megan Dantzler, Vasso Alexandratos
Ph.D.: Caterina Panzeca, Vanessa Madrid

Project Description: Most sediment entering the oceans is derived from tropical drainage basins and is deposited in deltaic systems along continental margins. This project compares early diagenetic processes, biogeochemical cycling, and authigenic mineral formation in mobile deltaic deposits of the Amazon - Guianas coastal mudbelt and the Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea, two of the major depocenters on Earth.

Location: French Guiana, 5.45 N, 53.9 W

Coring a mobile mudbank deposit ~ 5 km offshore of colonizing mangroves near the Sinnamary River mouth, French Guiana

Graduate student Caterina Panzeca accepting core offering from Prof. Bob Aller and mentally preparing for night of sample processing