BG
Biogeosciences

Rachael Moore

Rachael Moore is a PhD student at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, and an Early Stage Researcher with the Marie-Curie ITN ABYSS. Her research focuses on the interaction between microbial life and basaltic rocks in the deep biosphere. Currently she is using material from a CO2 injection site to observe how microorganisms alter their host environment in response to CO2 exposure. You can find her on twitter @raeleigh08 or as a contributor to SeaRocks Blog.

Coffee break biogeosciences–high resolution δ18O record from bivalves

December 9, 2016
Coffee break biogeosciences–high resolution δ18O record from bivalves
Arctica islandica from the North Sea. Image: © Hans Hillewaert used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Much like trees, clam shells have growth rings. The chemistry of these rings can be used as a proxy for ocean chemistry. Recently, an international team of scientists used the growth rings found in shells of Arctica islandica to produce an annual absolutely dated marine δ18O record for the last millennium which was published in Nature Communications. The record represents the first fine scale arch ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences–in situ sub-millimeter scale resolution imaging of benthic environments

August 5, 2016
Coffee break biogeosciences–in situ sub-millimeter scale resolution imaging of benthic environments
The BUM in action in Maui (Jaffe Lab for Underwater Imaging, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego)

Coral reefs and other benthic marine ecosystems play a very important role in the biogeochemical cycles of our oceans. However, laboratory based study of these environments ranges from being difficult to actually impossible. In order to look at the microscopic-scale processes that occur in the benthic environment a team of scientists developed the Benthic Underwater Microscope (BUM). The device, w ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences–The oldest known fossilized active root meristem

July 1, 2016
Coffee break biogeosciences–The oldest known fossilized active root meristem
Radix carbonica is the oldest known fossilized remains of root meristem which was actively growing at time of fossilization. (Image credit: Alexander (Sandy) Hetherington of slide number 81 with the permission of the Oxford University Herbaria).

Meristems are groups of undifferentiated cells found in growth zones of plants. Active meristem zones have a different cellular organization than inactive zones, and up until recently no fossilized active root meristem had been found. A team of scientists recently found and described the fossilized remains of an actively growing root meristem dating from the Carboniferous. The fossil, named Radix ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences–Urban bees found to feed on flowers

June 2, 2016
Coffee break biogeosciences–Urban bees found to feed on flowers
The food source of urban bees was found to be city flowers rather than a man-made sugar source (Image credit: Lauren Nichols).

Honey bees, a highly important pollinator, have suffered a number of declines and population collapses in recent years. The growth of urban centers has contributed to a loss of foraging habitat and an introduction of new food sources. A recent study conducted across the rural-urban boundary of Raleigh, North Carolina, USA examined the feeding sources of urban and rural honey bees using δ13C measur ...[Read More]

Insights into the ocean crust and deep biosphere – ECORD Summer School 2015

December 22, 2015
Insights into the ocean crust and deep biosphere – ECORD Summer School 2015
Some of the archived core halves examined during the European Consortium for Ocean Drilling (ECORD) summer school. (credit: Volker Diekamp).

Summer time as an early career geochemist can mean many things, to some it is vacation time, to others it is field season, and yet for others it is time to enroll in a summer school. ECORD, the European Consortium for Ocean Drilling, offers at least one summer school a year. If you work with foraminifera you may be familiar with the Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology, sorry to disappoint, bu ...[Read More]