2017 - Kermadec trench biology

This voyage is the first of a series of expeditions exploring selected trenches of the Pacific Ocean, primarily funded by a 5-year European Research Council Advanced Grant. It will investigate carbon and nutrient cycling by microbial communities in trenches exposed to different rates of organic carbon supply.

The project aims to provide the first detailed, combined analysis of benthic diagenesis and microbial ecology of some of the deepest oceanic trenches on Earth. Deep trenches, some of the most remote, extreme, and rarely explored habitats on Earth, are considered hotspots of deposition and mineralization of organic material.

The course of RV Tangaroa taken during the voyage to the Kermadec trench. Sampling sites are shown with blue markers, Raoul Island with purple markers.