Report: A collaborative session in JpGU: Mud Volcano and Chemosynthesis-Based Ecosystem

[From Deep-Sea Life 11, available here]

Hiromi Kayama Watanabe (1), Miho Asada1, Robert G. Jenkins (2), Akira Ijiri1, Tomohiro Toki (3), Takami Nobuhara (4)
(1) Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, (2) Kanazawa University, (3) University of Ryukyus, (4) Shizuoka
University

A collaborative session on Mud Volcanos and Chemosynthesis-Based Ecosystems was organized during the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) meeting, which had ~8000 participants and 236 sessions, including 12 ocean-science sessions (20-24 May 2018, at Makuhari Messe, Chiba, Japan).

Mud volcanos are one of the geological features on the seafloor that are formed by the movement of fluid and sediments from depth to the surface of the Earth. Hydrocarbon seepage and related phenomena sustaining chemosynthesis-based faunal communities on the seafloor could be categorized as part of mud volcano activity. During the mud volcano session, geophysists and geochemists discussed the processes that form mud volcanos, or how the materials in deep subsurface are transported to the surface. In the chemosynthesis-based ecosystem session, paleontologists and biologists discussed the processes of forming chemosynthesis-based communities and their function in marine ecosystems, or how the materials derived from deeper subsurface are used by marine fauna. Collaboration of these two sessions attempted to elucidate how material transport from the subsurface affects marine ecosystems, through chemosynthesis on the deep-sea floor.

We are planning to have a workshop in Shirahama, Wakayama, Japan in late Summer/Autumn, to discuss our ideas of future studies, including a field trip to observe fossil chemosynthesis-based communities in this area.

Please contact Hiromi Watanabe (hwatanabe@jamstec.go.jp) and/or Miho Asada (masada@jamstec.go.jp) if you are interested and have any ideas or input for our collaboration.