Biogenic CH4 and CO2 and subsurface microbial activity in the Acre and Marajó basins

• Grant number: 23/00448-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: March 01, 2023
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: André Oliveira Sawakuchi
• Grantee: Angela Ethelis Jimenez Martinez
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IGC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/23899-2 - Trans-Amazon Drilling Project: origin and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics, AP.PFPMCG.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 25/05009-3 - Dynamics of Methanogenesis in the Marajó Basin: Environmental Factors and Metabolic Pathways in CH4 and CO2 Production, BE.EP.PD

Abstract

The Amazon biome have the greatest diversity of species on Earth and is an important element of the carbon cycle, with the capacity to influence the global climate. The Amazon rainforest is crucial for the production and distribution of atmospheric humidity in South America, in addition to sustaining the largest hydrographic basin in the world, which connects the Andes mountains with the equatorial Atlantic Ocean. The geological, climatic and biological evolution of the Amazon represents one of the great themes of contemporary Science, as it is fundamental to understand the origin of tropical biodiversity and the effects of climate change and the evolution of the physical landscape on the biota, both in relation to the changes that have occurred in the past and those projected for the future. Sedimentary cores will be sampled between 1200-2000 m depth in the Acre and Marajó basins, with the objective of evaluating the potential for biogenic production of CH4 and CO2. The objectives of this study specifically include estimating the rates and pathways of production and consumption of CH4 and CO2 in subsurface and identify with molecular analyzes (sequence of 16S rRNA) the composition of methanogenic and methanotrophic communities to the methane cycle. These results indicated the important roles for these organisms in nutrient cycling within this ecosystem.