Distribution and Composition of Thiotrophic Mats in the Hypoxic Zone of the Black Sea (150-170 m Water Depth, Crimea Margin).

ABSTRACT: At the Black Sea chemocline, oxygen- and sulfide-rich waters meet and form a niche for thiotrophic pelagic bacteria. Here we investigated an area of the Northwestern Black Sea off Crimea close to the shelf break, where the chemocline reaches the seafloor at around 150-170 m water depth, to assess whether thiotrophic bacteria are favored in this zone. Seafloor video transects were carried out with the submersible JAGO covering 20 km(2) on the region between 110 and 200 m depth. Around the chemocline we observed irregular seafloor depressions, covered with whitish mats of large filamentous bacteria. These comprised 25-55% of the seafloor, forming a belt of 3 km width around the chemocline. Cores from the mats obtained with JAGO showed higher accumulations of organic matter under the mats com

SUBMITTER: Jessen GL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4925705 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature