This award will support cooperative research between Prof. W.S. Reeburgh of the University of Alaska, and Dr. David T. Heggie of the Australian Bureau of Mineral Resources, Geology, and Geophysics, Canberra, Australia. The investigators will participate in a joint geochemical/geophysical research cruise on the northwest shelf of Australia, aboard the vessel RIG SEISMIC. Measurements of water column and sediment methane concentrations and carbon isotope ratios will be made with the intention of determining whether the hydrocarbons observed are modern, or are related to the presence of petroleum under the sea. The northwest shelf of Australia is known to have petroleum potential. Measurements in this environment will extend the U.S. investigator's previous experience in Alaskan and Black Sea waters, and the earlier joint studies of the U.S. and Australian investigators in methane geochemistry. This research is aimed at understanding the geochemical and microbiological controls on anaerobic methane oxidation, and the role this process plays in the global methane budget, which could play an important role in atmospheric warming.
