Award: OCE-2205998

Methane Footprints Research Expeditions: Real-Time Discoveries at Sea & Long-Term Outreach

Two scientific expeditions aboard Research Vessel Atlantis off the coast of California in 2023 and Alaska in 2024 were the foundation of this project. I had the privilege of diving in the Alvin submarine, descending over a mile and sealed for 10 hours inside a seven-foot sphere and to observe through only 3 inches of glass (and tears of joy) a bizarre ecosystem that thrives in the cold darkness of our ocean floor and helps keep our planet from overheating, the methane seep. Alongside a team of scientists, engineers, and sailors, we collected rocks, animals, water, and the countless variety of microscopic organisms found on and inside them.

At night, we used the ship's sonar to map the shape of the seafloor and look the "plumes" of methane bubbles that can come up into the water from the seeps on the ocean floor. In California, we discovered a new and highly active seep that we explored the next day with Alvin. In Alaska, I imaged dual bubble plumes in the water that changed size depending on the tide and turned out to have a huge carbonate rock outcrop covered with life as their source.

To exhibit samples collected during my Alvin dives, I worked aboard ship with Stefani Martinez, the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program undergraduate student who joined our team, to prepare a set of "touchable" carbonates incorporating fossils and crystals that she explained and shared with her community. Back on land, Undergrad Research Awardee Yuzuna Kudo and I created a Methane Seep diorama so anyone walking through UCLA's Earth and Planetary Science building can learn about "living rocks" from the deep sea along with meteorites and dinosaur bones.

Using Seafloor Maps and Mosaics to find the Balance Between Methane, Microbe, and Mollusk

The microbes and animals living at methane seeps choose their homes based on the conditions they like: lots of methane, lots of oxygen, hard rocks or soft mud. Along with two Undergraduate Research Assistants, Yuhe Li and Yuzuna Kudo, I used the videos of the seafloor from Alvin's dives to create a "supermosaic" of the seafloor where individual clams can be seen alongside microbial mats and carbonate rocks. We created a map from this supermosaic that shows the different seafloor habitats and determined how much of the seep is covered by each type. I used this map with the measurements of samples the team collects and grows in the lab to figure out how much methane is coming up from below, being used by life on or in the seafloor, and rising into the ocean water at California's Santa Monica Seep. This estimate of methane "flux" will be updated with the other team’s results once complete and published as a collaborative manuscript.

"Living Rocks" from the Ocean Floor under Electron Microscopes and Lab Growth Experiments

Different types of microbes use the methane rising through the seafloor to make energy, many of them living on or inside animals. Where there is no oxygen, these microbes form carbonate rocks by changing the chemistry of the water with their waste. The opposite process occurs when oxygen is present, with microbial waste and animal activity dissolving the rock, releasing carbon back into the ocean and short-term carbon cycle. We collected seep carbonates with microbes on them, cut them into jar-sized pieces, and fed them methane to grow them in the lab fridge at a similar temperature to their seafloor home.  

With the help of UCLA PhD students Rhegan Thomason and Max Packebush, I imaged these "living rocks" with instruments that show at a microscopic scale what the rocks are made of and how the microbes growing on them and their corrosive cavities are shaped. Comparing images before and after 9-month live experiments shows distinctly shaped microbes grew on rocks from different places. A unique butterfly-shaped crystal containing phosphorus actually grew on two of the samples. I successfully imaged corrosion matching the patterns of microbes and shapes of animals living on or in the carbonates. Using their chemical composition, in this case the isotopes of Uranium and Thorium, we determined the rocks have ages ranging from only a few hundred up to 10,000 years old. These findings improve our understanding of how deep-sea methane seeps influence ocean life and earth's climate.

Last Modified: 06/04/2026
Modified by: Kira Homola