Nees Heather A.

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Nees
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Heather A.
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  • Article
    Chemistry, temperature, and faunal distributions at diffuse-flow hydrothermal vents : comparison of two geologically distinct ridge systems
    (The Oceanography Society, 2012-03) Luther, George W. ; Gartman, Amy ; Yucel, Mustafa ; Madison, Andrew S. ; Moore, Tommy S. ; Nees, Heather A. ; Nuzzio, Donald B. ; Sen, Arunima ; Lutz, Richard A. ; Shank, Timothy M. ; Fisher, Charles R.
    Diffuse-flow, low-temperature areas near hydrothermal vents support life via chemosynthesis: hydrogen sulfide (and other reduced chemical compounds) emanating from the subsurface is oxidized with bottom-water oxygen through bacterial mediation to fix carbon dioxide and produce biomass. This article reviews the in situ diffuse-flow chemistry (mainly H2S and O2) and temperature data collected in 2006 and 2009 along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center (ELSC), and from 2004 to 2008 at 9°N along the East Pacific Rise (9 N EPR), predominantly around macrofauna that contain endosymbionts at these two hydrothermal vent regions. More than 48,000 and 20,000 distinct chemical and temperature data points were collected with a multi-analyte electrochemical analyzer in the diffuse-flow waters at 9 N EPR and the ELSC, respectively. Despite their different geological settings and different macrofauna (two different species of snails and mussels at the ELSC versus two different species of tubeworms and mussels at 9 N EPR), there are similarities in the temperature and chemistry data, as well as in the distributions of organisms. The pattern of water chemistry preferred by the provannid snails (Alviniconcha spp., Ifremeria nautilei) and Bathymodiolus brevior at the ELSC is similar to the water chemistry pattern found for the siboglinid tubeworms (Tevnia jerichonana, Riftia pachyptila) and the Bathymodiolus thermophilus mussels at 9 N EPR. The eruptions at 9 N EPR in 2005 and 2006 resulted in increased H2S concentrations, increased H2S/T ratios, and an initial change in the dominant tubeworm species from Riftia pachyptila to Tevnia jerichonana after the eruption created new vent habitats. In 2005, two sites at 9 N EPR showed major increases in the H2S/T ratio from 2004, which suggested a probable eruption in this basalt-dominated system. At the ELSC, there was a decrease in the H2S/T ratio from northern to southern sites, which reflects the change in geological setting from basalt to andesite and the shallower water depths at the southern sites.
  • Article
    Hydrothermal vent mussel habitat chemistry, pre- and post-eruption at 9°50′North on the East Pacific Rise
    (National Shellfisheries Association, 2008-03) Nees, Heather A. ; Moore, Tommy S. ; Mullaugh, Katherine M. ; Holyoke, Rebecca R. ; Janzen, Christopher P. ; Ma, Shufen ; Metzger, Edouard ; Waite, Tim J. ; Yucel, Mustafa ; Lutz, Richard A. ; Shank, Timothy M. ; Vetriani, Costantino ; Nuzzio, Donald B. ; Luther, George W.
    Between October 2005 and March 2006, a seafloor volcanic eruption occurred at 9°50′N East Pacific Rise (EPR), establishing a “time zero” for characterizing newly-formed hydrothermal vent habitats and comparing them to pre-eruption habitats. Before the eruption, mussels (Bathymodiolus thermophilus) formed large aggregates between 9°49.6′ and 9°50.3′N. After the eruption, the few mussels remaining were in sparsely-distributed individuals and clumps, seemingly transported via lava flows or from mass wasting of the walls of the axial trough. In situ voltammetry with solid state gold-amalgam microelectrodes was used to characterize the chemistry of vent fluids in mussel habitats from 2004 to 2007, providing data sets for comparison of oxygen, sulfide, and temperature. Posteruption fluids contained higher sulfide-to-temperature ratios (i.e., slopes of linear regressions) (10.86 μM °C−1) compared with pre-eruption values in 2004 and 2005 (2.79 μM °C−1 and −0.063 μM °C−1, respectively). These chemical differences can be attributed to the difference in geographic location in which mussels were living and physical factors arising from posteruptive fluid emissions.