D’Hondt and Chris Roman are leading an NSF-funded project to create an autonomous Niskin/CTD system for profiling and sampling all water depths in the ocean (0-11 km below sea level). When this system is finished, it will enable routine environmental profiling and sampling of the entire water column everywhere in the ocean for the first time.
Members of our research group have also developed a variety of tools for study of life in extreme environments. These include
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Experimental methods for quantifying the production of radiolytic H2 in saturated sediment and minerals (Sauvage et al., in preparation).
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A method for quantifying rates of water radioloysis and chemical production (O2 and H2O2) near interfaces between fluids and radionuclide-containing solids (Dzaugis et al., 2015, Radiation Physics and Chemistry).
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A method for determining in situ porewater concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity using shipboard measurements from recovered cores (Sauvage et al., 2014, Chemical Geology).
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A method for using natural gamma core-logging to quantify uranium, thorium and potassium concentrations in marine sediment (Dunlea et al., 2013, Scientific Drilling).
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A numerical approach for quantifying rates of chemical reactions in deep marine sediments (Wang et al 2008.pdf, Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta)
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A method for consistently separating microbial cells from their marine sedimentary matrix (Kallmeyer et al 2008.pdf, Limnology and Oceanography: Methods).
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A method for quantifying rates of hydrogen production by water radiolysis in sedimentary environments (Blair et al 2007.pdf, Astrobiology).
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An assay for quantifying extremely low levels of hydrogenase activity (Soffientino et al 2006.pdf, Journal of Microbiological Methods).
Students and post-docs who worked on these projects were co-advised by D’Hondt and Arthur Spivack, David Smith or Richard W. Murray (Boston University). If you’re interested in quantifying subsurface biogeochemical processes, you may also be interested in Spivack’s simple ex situ technique for quantifying in situ concentrations of dissolved volatile chemicals (such as methane) in high-pressure environments (Spivack et al 2006.pdf, ODP Leg 201 Scientific Results).