Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DeepTrace (Tracing nanoparticle-fuelled co-mobilization of catalyst metals across Earth's deep-sea redox interfaces to pave the way for habitability detection in Ocean Worlds)
Reporting period: 2023-01-01 to 2025-06-30
Redox metals such as Fe, Mo, V, Ni, Cu, and Mn have played a pivotal role in shaping Earth’s biogeochemical cycles and the evolution of life. Building on this concept, the DeepTrace project is developing a groundbreaking mechanistic, analytical, and predictive framework for the nanoparticle-fueled co-mobilization of these catalyst metals across Earth’s marine redox interfaces. By elucidating the formation, distribution, and detection of metal-bearing nanoparticles, DeepTrace aims to establish a novel basis for inferring metal catalysis in complex environmental systems. Extending this idea to the search for extraterrestrial life, the project builds on the notion that putative hydrothermal vents on the ocean floors of Ocean Worlds -such as Europa and Enceladus- trigger eruptions that eject water plumes through ice cracks. While most volatile or elemental species decay during this process, stable nanoparticle forms can survive and be detected in the plumes, providing critical clues about the underlying ocean chemistry. In order to seize this unique opportunity, the NASA Europa Clipper Mission, currently on its way to the Jupiter system, is equipped with time-of-flight mass spectrometers to detect the composition of these particle emissions. The ERC DeepTrace project is currently developing the detection mechanisms for oceanic nanoparticles that can be directly linked to the search of life-supporting habitats in the ocean worlds of the solar system.
The work of DeepTrace is organized into three work streams. In work stream 1, the research expeditions to the Black Sea and Marmara Sea have been successfully deployed. Data collected from 13 stations provide a solid basis for studying the distribution of cofactor metals in redox transition zones and inform the development of next-generation 3D biogeochemical models. Upcoming research expeditions in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans have been planned and proposed. Ship time on the R/V Atlantis for an expedition to the East Pacific Rise has been secured for five project members (scheduled for April-May 2025), while a proposal for ship time on the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s vessel for a 2026 Atlantic Ocean expedition has been submitted. In work stream 2, a fully equipped and operational geochemistry laboratory -furnished with state-of-the-art instruments for rapid multi-element analysis, nanoparticle fractionation, and dispersion stability assessment- has been established within the first two years of the Project. Method development and sample analyses are underway in this brand new facility. The work stream 3 focuses on geochemical modelling. In the first stage the TURSEM Black Sea biogeochemical model has been prepared for the addition of new metal-related parameters.
A multidisciplinary team has been assembled involving 1 postdoctoral fellow, 3 PhD students and 2 Master students, bringing together expertise in geochemistry, electrochemistry, chemistry, biology, deep-sea research, molecular biology and genetics, and nanoparticle analysis. This core team is supported by a broader team of experts hosted at METU-IMS. This diverse team has significantly enhanced the project’s technical capabilities and forms a robust foundation for achieving the ambitious goals. We have produced two major articles, under final phase of review as of RP1. These works for the first time explore the linkage between deep-sea nanoparticle research and planetary science as well as Early Earth habitat research. These publications demonstrate the project's innovative approach and have the potential to establish a new interdisciplinary field.
A multidisciplinary team has been assembled involving 1 postdoctoral fellow, 3 PhD students and 2 Master students, bringing together expertise in geochemistry, electrochemistry, chemistry, biology, deep-sea research, molecular biology and genetics, and nanoparticle analysis. This core team is supported by a broader team of experts hosted at METU-IMS. This diverse team has significantly enhanced the project’s technical capabilities and forms a robust foundation for achieving the ambitious goals. We have produced two major articles, under final phase of review as of RP1. These works for the first time explore the linkage between deep-sea nanoparticle research and planetary science as well as Early Earth habitat research. These publications demonstrate the project's innovative approach and have the potential to establish a new interdisciplinary field.
The most significant outcome of the first 2 years is that a novel multidisciplinary approach has been developed for identifying biogeosignature tracers in deep-sea habitats. We propose that stable nanoparticles in plume ejecta serve as optimal indicators of ocean chemistry in ice-covered worlds, where volatile and dissolved species decay rapidly during eruption processes. This innovative approach has established a promising bridge to the planetary science community, as evidenced by forthcoming publications, invited talks, and ongoing collaborations on sample sharing and methodology co-development. On another front, the analysis of particles collected from the Black Sea shows that our methods can reliably obtain multi-element counts of marine nanoparticles. These preliminary multi-element metal (nano)particle distribution data form a robust foundation for understanding the origins and biogeochemical significance of these particles. Our novel nanoparticle sampling and rapid shipboard detection methods have the potential to advance the field beyond the current state of the art. By developing a unique shipboard methodology employing stirred cell filtration units, we minimized chemical alterations and successfully demonstrated -for the first time in the Black Sea- the relative distribution of nanoparticles across different depths within aquatic redox transition zones. We have also obtained advances in a specific transition metal, manganese. Initial results indicate a significant advancement in understanding manganese speciation in redox-stratified systems. We optimized a novel porphine-based method that enables the measurement of both Mn(II) and Mn(III) oxidation states, overcoming previous limitations where only Mn(II) could be reliably measured. These new datasets on Mn, and other multi-element metal distributions, will be of great benefit for the development of the next generation 3D biogeochemical models.