A waterworld of volcanoes

In 2008, UiB researchers discovered Loki's Castle, a field of five active hydrothermal vents on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Norway and Greenland. The field contains rich metal deposits and a unique wildlife.

The eloquence of the otoliths

Fish fossils that are about 23 million years old give unprecedented insight into the evolutionary history of the gobioid order, one of the most species-rich groups among the modern bony fishes.

Wet and mild: Researchers take the temperature of Mars's past

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have directly determined the surface temperature of early Mars for the first time, providing evidence that's consistent with a warmer and wetter ...

New Bacterial Behavior Discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- Bacteria dance the electric slide, officially named electrokinesis by the USC geobiologists who discovered the phenomenon.

Seeking Life's Shadow

They haven't yet figured out how to draw blood from stones, but a group of French researchers is offering new insight that could change how scientists search for signs of life in Martian rocks.

Geobiology

Broadly defined, geobiology is an interdisciplinary field of scientific research that explores interactions between the biosphere and the lithosphere and/or the atmosphere.

Investigators from numerous fields are involved in geobiologic research, including, but not limited to, such disciplines as: paleontology, paleobiology, microbiology, mineralogy, biochemistry, sedimentology, genetics, physiology, geochemistry (organic and inorganic), and atmospheric science. One major subdiscipline of geobiology is geomicrobiology, an area of study that focuses on investigating the interactions between microbes and minerals. Another related area of research is astrobiology, an interdisciplinary field that uses a combination of geobiological and planetary science data to establish a context for the search for life on other planets.

The study also focuses on biosphere/geosphere/atmosphere interactions throughout Earth's history, as preserved in the sedimentary rock record. One example of such an interaction is the Archean era introduction of oxygen into the atmosphere by photosynthetic bacteria. This oxygenation of Earth's primoidial atmosphere (the so-called oxygen catastrophe) may have resulted in the precipitation of banded-iron rock formations.

One example of geobiological research in a modern context is the study of bacteria that "breathe" metals such as manganese and uranium. These organisms use metals as terminal electron acceptors in the same way that animals use oxygen. These processes hold promise as tools for environmental bioremediation.

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