The Masters Thesis Defense of Andrew Hyde will be presented by the Department of Marine Sciences in seminar room G201 on the ground floor of Murray Hall, UNC at Chapel Hill. Live stream can be made available upon request. This event will be held on Wednesday, December 6th … Read more

Methane hydrates are a type of ice that has trapped methane molecules. It is estimated that there may be 1500 gigatons (1015 g) of carbon trapped in methane hydrates in the sediments of the world’s continental margins. This volume of methane gas is equal to the volume of the Mediterranean Sea under standard conditions; providing a tremendous amount of potential energy to the ~106 microbial cells/cm3 found in hydrate sediments. This seminar explores the interplay between these rich microbial communities and this large methane reservoir.