Geomicrobiology of the Mount St. Helens Glacier and Hot Springs.  Interactions Between Fire and Ice.

PI: Dr. Mark Skidmore, Earth Sciences Department, Montana State University

The Mount St. Helens crater provides a unique opportunity to examine the interactions of thermal features, e.g. hot springs and fumaroles with an overlying ice mass.  The glacier in the Mount St. Helens crater has built up over the past ~20 years and within the ice there should be a record of the interactions between the vent systems and the overlying ice as it formed.  The interaction of hydrothermal vents with ice masses is of significant scientific interest since it is a potential terrestrial analogue for habitable environments on other planets e.g. the North Polar Cap on Mars. 

Waters were sampled from a variety of environments in the crater in July 2004, including surficial and subglacial environments and hot springs (60C) immediately down valley from the glacier terminus.  Samples were taken for geochemical and isotopic analysis, cell counts and DNA analysis.  The ash and steam venting and dome building that occurred in September/October 2004 created significant fracturing and some melting of the glacier and potentially altered some of the hydrothermal plumbing in the crater.  Thus there is a matchless opportunity to study the effects of the recent magmatic activity and its effects on the hot spring chemistry and microbiology since to the best of my knowledge I am the only researcher with any samples from the glacier/hot springs immediately prior to the event.  I propose to revisit the crater in summer 2005 to take parallel samples to those in 2004 where possible and to conduct a more intensive survey of the geochemistry and microbiology of both the hot springs and glacier ice.

 


Contact Information

Mail: Dr. Mark Skidmore
Earth Sciences Department
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT 59717
E-mail: skidmore@montana.edu
Phone: (406) 994-6909
FAX: (406) 994-6923


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