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Research Field
The general research fields of RCMG are geodynamic, seismic- and sequence-stratigraphic and paleoclimatically oriented studies of outer-shelf and upper-slope environments in the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Pacific. Furthermore investigates RCMG research thopics within limnology, methane hydrate, cold seeps and mud vulcanoes, marine habitat mapping, marine environmental research, as well as research for education (see details under http://www.rcmg.ugent.be/research.html). Special emphasis goes to the investigation of possible seep-related carbonate mud mounds and deep-water reefs. Research areas include the Porcupine Bight, the Gulf of Cadiz, the Norwegian margin and Hydrate Ridge offshore Oregon. Cold-water coral reefs thriving on carbonate mounds have been discovered in the late 90's off western Ireland and recently off Morocco. Mound building seems to be a fundamental but still enigmatic strategy of Life, developed since Precambrian times onwards. Development of recent mounds off Ireland seem to be mainly environmentally and climatically controlled. However, some arguments suggest that microorganisms are playing a major role in reef development and biodiversity. Mounds may find their origin at the confluence of fluxes from external (oceanic) and internal origin (geofluids).
Projects
- Biotope exploration and characterization of biodiversity through geophysical and video imaging, targeted microbiological profiling, evaluation of present and past oceanic conditions,
- Microbial diversity census and evaluation of the functional link microbes-metazoans through metazoan species analysis, biogeochemical and molecular fingerprinting, laboratory culturing, fauna-microbe interactions analysis, evaluation of microbially mediated processes of carbonate precipitation,
- Assessment of the impact of biodiversity changes through the development of a reactor technology to simulate and assess the functionality of the micro-ecological niches and the impact of environmental changes.
COCARDE-Flanders: COCARDE (Cold-Water Carbonate Reservoir Systems in Deep Environment) is an international network investigating and comparing subrecent mounds with more ancient mound systems.
4D architecture of cold-water coral mounds (Lies De Mol): the aim of this research within the frame of MICROSYSTEMS is (1) the study of the characteristics of individual coral plates and (2) the 4D study of carbonate mounds in the Gulf of Cadiz and Bay of Biscay in comparison with IODP Exp. 307 cores from the Porcupine Seabight.
The FWO-project of Hans Pirlet studies the cyclic structure of cold-water coral mounds in the deep-sea: internal versus external steering and variability. Research topics are (1) the environmental and depositional signal recorded in the terrigenous fraction of the mound-sediment, as well as (2) the early diagenetic processes which affect the original sediment record.
Facilities
The strength of the Renard Centre of Marine Geology (RCMG) has always been its autonomous exploratory power, as it possesses a range of acoustic and seismic tools: very high resolution seismics (2D, 3D, 4C), sidescan sonar, multibeam, as well as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV Genesis) for the study of carbonate mounds and cold-water coral reefs down to 1200 m. It organizes yearly cruises on board of R/V Belgica.
High and very-high resolution reflection seismic equipment:
- In-house developed "Centipede" sparker, SIG sparker, Geopulse 3.5 kHz subbottom profiler, Seistec boomer-receiver system, In-house developed "VHR-3D" seismic array, Delph Seismic acquisition system (IXSEA), Geode 24-channel seismograph (Geometrics)
- Side-scan sonar: Klein 3000 side-scan sonarMultibeam swath-bathymetry echosounder: Seabeam 1050 (50 kHz)
- Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV): ROV Cherokee (Sub-Atlantic)
- Underwater navigation: GAPS USBL system (IXSEA)
An important new facility at the Faculty of Science of Ghent University, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry (Luc Moens and Frank Vanhaecke, http://www.analchem.ugent.be/AMS_Unit/home.php?lng=nl), is a pool of multi collector–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometers (MC-ICP-MS) including laser ablation (LA) technique. These facilities will provide ample opportunities for palaeo-environmental research on cores. The RCMG also works in close collaboration with the centre for X-ray tomography (UGCT) at Ghent University ( http://www.ugct.ugent.be/). CT-scanning is an important tool in carbonate mound research as it allows the identification and quantification of biogenic fragments, pores, diagenetic minerals,...
People
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Prof. Dr.
Jean-Pierre Henriet
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Prof. Dr.
Marc De Batist
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Prof. Dr.
David Van Rooij
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Dr.
Andres Rüggeberg
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PhD
Lies De Mol
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Related Publications
2010
De Mol, L., Van Rooij, D., Pirlet, H., Greinert, J., Frank, N., Quemmerais, F., Henriet, J.-P. & the R/V Belgica 08/13a shipboard scientific party (submitted). Cold-water coral habitats in the Penmarc'h and Guilvinec canyons (Bay of Biscay): deep-water versus shallow water settings. Marine Geology.
Maignien, L., Depreiter, D., Foubert, A., Reveillaud, J., De Mol, L., Boeckx, P., Blamart, D., Henriet, J.-P. & Boon, N. (submitted). Anaerobic oxidation of methane in a cold-water coral carbonate mound from the Gulf of Cadiz. International Journal of Earth Sciences.
Margreth, S., Gennari, G., Rüggeberg, A., Comas, M.C., Pinheiro, L.M., Spezzaferri, S., (submitted) Development of cold-water coral ecosystems on mud volcanoes in the West Alboran Basin: paleoceanographic implications. Marine Geology.
Margreth, S., Rüggeberg, A., Spezzaferri, S., (submitted) Benthic foraminifera associated to Norwegian cold-water coral reefs: towards the assesment of regional bioindicators. Marine Micropaleontology.
Pirlet H., Colin C., Thierens M., Latruwe, K., Van Rooij, D., Foubert A., Frank N., Blamart D., Huvenne, V.A.I., Swennen R., Vanhaecke, F. & Henriet, J.-P. (submitted). The importance of the terrigenous fraction within a cold-water coral mound: A case study. Marine Geology.
Raddatz, J., Rüggeberg, A., Margreth, S., Dullo,W.-Chr., and IODP Expedition 307 Scientific Party (submitted) Paleoenvironmental reconstruction of deep-water carbonate mound initiation in the Porcupine Seabight, NE Atlantic. Marine Geology.
Rüggeberg, A., Flögel, S., Dullo, W.-Chr., Hissmann, K., Freiwald, A. (submitted) Water mass characteristics and sill dynamics in a polar cold-water coral reef setting at Stjernsund, northern Norway. Marine Geology.
Van Rooij, D., Iglesias, I., Hernandez-Molina, F.J., Ercilla, G., Gomez-Ballesteros, M., Casas, D., Llave, E., De Hauwere, A., Garcia Gil, S., Acosta, J. & Henriet, J.-P. (accepted). The Le Danois Contourite Depositional System: interactions between the Mediterranean Outflow Water and the upper Cantabrian slope (North Iberian margin). Marine Geology. doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2010.03.001
Van Rooij, D., Blamart, D., De Mol, L., Mienis, F., Pirlet, H., Wehrman, L.M., Barbieri, R., Maignien, L., Templer, S.P., de Haas, H., Hebbeln, D., Frank, N., Larmagnat, S., Stadnitskaia, A., Stivaletta, N., van Weering, T.C.E., Zhang, Y., Hamoumi, N., Cnudde, V., Duyck, P., Henriet, J.-P. & the MiCROSYSTEMS MD169 shipboard party (submitted). Cold-water coral mounds on the Pen Duick Escarpment, Gulf of Cadiz: the MiCROSYSTEMS approach. Marine Geology.
2009
Foubert, A., Henriet, J.-P. & IODP Exp. 307 Shipboard Party, 2009. Nature and Significance of the Recent Carbonate Mound Record – The Mound Challenger Code. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, 126, Springer-Verlag, 298 pp.
Frank, N., Ricard, E., Lutringer-Paquet, A., van der Land, C., Colin, C., Blamart, D., Foubert, A., Van Rooij, D., Henriet, J.-P., de Haas, H. & van Weering, T., 2009. The Holocene occurrence of cold water corals in the NE Atlantic: implications for coral carbonate mound evolution. Marine Geology, 266(1-4), 129-142.
Freiwald, A., Beuck, L., Rüggeberg, A., Taviani, M., Hebbeln, D., and R/V Meteor Cruise M70-1 Participants (2009) The White Coral Community in the Central Mediterranean Sea Revealed by ROV Surveys. Oceanography, Vol. 22(1):58–74.
Huvenne, V.A.I., Van Rooij, D., De Mol, B., Thierens, M., O’Donnell, R. & Foubert, A., 2009. Sediment dynamics and palaeo-environmental context at key stages in the Challenger cold-water coral mound formation: Clues from sediment deposits at the mound base. Deep-Sea Research I, 56(12), 2263-2280.
Margreth, S., Rüggeberg, A. & Spezzaferri, S., 2009. Benthic foraminifera as bioindicator for cold-water coral reeef ecosystems along the Irish margin. Deep Sea Research I, 56(12), 2216-2234.
Pirlet, H., Wehrmann, L.M., Brunner, B., Frank, N., Dewanckele, J., Van Rooij, D., Foubert, A., Swennen, R., Naudts, L., Boone, M., Cnudde, V. & Henriet, J.P. (2009) Diagenetic formation of gypsum and dolomite in a cold-water coral mound in the Porcupine Seabight, off Ireland. Sedimentology, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3091.2009.01119.x.
Titschack, J., Thierens, M., Dorschel, B., Schulbert, C., Freiwald, A., Kano, A., Takashima, C., Kawagoe, N., Li, X. & the IODP Expedition 307 scientific party, 2009. Carbonate Budget of a cold-water coral mound (Challenger Mound, IODP Exp. 307). Marine Geology, 259(1-4), 36-46.
Van Rooij, D., Huvenne, V.A.I., Blamart, D., Henriet, J.-P., Wheeler, A. & de Haas, H., 2009. The Enya mounds: a lost mound-drift competition. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 98(4), 849-863.
Wehrmann, L.M., Knab, N.J., Pirlet, H., Unnithan, V., Wild, C. & Ferdelman, T., 2009. Carbon mineralization and carbonate preservation in modern cold-water coral reef sediments on the Norwegian shelf. Biogeosciences, 6, 663-680. |