Journal

Today was the first day where it felt like we're settled in and actually doing science. Megan's been working hard to get our lab tent organized, and we were able to drill our first hole through the ice, with the intention of taking samples and looking around, instead of just accessing drinking water.

I'll tell you all about drilling through the ice in a future journal -- it's a challenge, to say the least! Once we had the hole open, Tyler was able to get out his cameras, lower them into the open hole and document what the mats look like. We are hoping to find the mats that have a webbed, pinnacled shape, because they closely resemble shapes we find in the rock record from around 2.5 billion years ago. It was an exciting moment for all of us to see the footage from the GoPro camera -- we've expended considerable effort to reach this point! In this particular hole, the microbial community had a slightly different shape than what we were looking for, but now we know to drill the next hole a little closer to shore where the water is shallower.

Tyler getting ready to lower camera
Tyler getting ready to lower the camera into the lake.

Tyler lowering a camera into the lake
Tyler lowering a camera into the lake.

We also will put a "grab sampler" down in the hole. It's got a bulb that clamps shut to capture microbes on the bottom of the lake. Megan will then take the samples collected to the lab tent, examine them under a microscope, and preserve them for further study back at U.C. Davis.

Overall, it was an exciting day to finally do some of the things we came here for!

Details
Author
Lucy Coleman
Date
Location
Lake Joyce
Expedition
Microbialites In Lake Joyce Antarctica
Weather Summary
Sunny and cold

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Comments

Sat, 11/01/2014 - 19:18

Jeanne Feeney

Hi Lucy,Your blogs have been fantastic and make me feel like I'm there! Amazing science!
I thought of you today when I went to Moss Landing to MBARI--I saw 3 otters in the estuary and they were only 50 yards away! Very cool to be so close! Saw some large sand crabs, too. You know how I am about those. What sort of animals have you seen so far? Maybe some birds?
Keep up the good work and I look forward to hearing more!
Jeanne aka Mrs. Feeney

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 08:23

Andres Crespo,…

Anything specific the team is looking for?

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 08:38

Matthew G Spri…

How many types of microbes, are you expecting to find?

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 11:51

Christopher G

hello, my name is Christopher. I have a question. Why were you looking for the mats in the hole?

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 11:55

Nayeli G. Spri…

Hi Lucy, My name is Nayeli, so i was reading your journal and i liked it. I had a quuestion, Why are you trying to find mats that have webbed?. I hope you had fun!

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 16:07

Cameron Z- Spr…

How many samples do you take each day? What spot in the lake do you take the samples from- middle, ends?

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 20:59

Dawn

The team will be able to see about a dozen different types of microbes using microscopes in the field. However, when we analyze the genes in the mats when the samples get back to the lab, we "find" thousands of microbes. We see way more with the genetic analysis because most of the microbes are too small to see with the microscopes we can bring to the field and it's hard to tell microbes apart by the way they look. Most of what makes them different is the way they do their chemistry.

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 21:00

Dawn

The purpose of the science project is to understand how the mats grow and how they grow differently in different parts of the lake. These mats are like the first life that lived on earth, so the team is looking at them to understand how life evolved.

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 21:03

Dawn

Hi Nayeli - mats with webs are very unusual. Lake Joyce is the best lake in the world to study them because they are the largest ones that we've ever found. Fossil mats that formed 2.5 billion years ago also had webs. We are hoping that we can understand how they grow in Lake Joyce so we can understand how they grew on early earth, when we don't know what microbes were around.

Mon, 11/03/2014 - 21:07

Dawn

The number of samples the team takes each day will vary from none to maybe a dozen. It depends on what the science priority for the day is, the weather, and how well the work goes. There are always some days when things just don't go well.
Tyler, the team leader, has selected the spots to collect the first dozen or so samples. They will be relatively near the shore because that is where the best mats grow - they need sunlight, which is more abundant in shallow water. They will be spread around the lake shore to capture different parts of it. After they have collected the first set of samples, they will discuss what they have discovered and will either continue to do the same type of sampling or switch to a new approach which they think will produce better samples. This is the way science should work: you start with a good idea, you make observations and collect samples to test that idea, you evaluate how well you are doing, and you change course depending on what you find.

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 06:30

Jasmine G , Sp…

Hey Lucy, I'm Jasmine. I was wondering how long was the hole? Also how many microbes have you found already?

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 16:06

jennifer.L Sp…

How do find out how old a rock record is?

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 16:18

Jessica B. ,Sp…

Hi Lucy, my name is Jessica and I have a question to ask you. Will you be working on other experiments, besides this one, that you know of ?

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 18:47

Carolina L, Sp…

When you are collecting this type of data how long does it usually take you to collect everything you need or close to everything that you need?

Tue, 11/04/2014 - 18:47

Carolina L, Sp…

When you are collecting this type of data how long does it usually take you to collect everything you need or close to everything that you need?

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 07:13

Kenverly M

Isn't it highly dangerous to drill holes in the ice when anyone could probably fall in?

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 13:19

Lucy Coleman

Hi Christopher,
The microbial mats live and thrive in a carpet on the bottom of the lake. To get to them, we must drill a hole through the layer of ice and send the camera through the hole, then through the water underneath to the bottom of the lake.

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 13:21

Lucy Coleman

Hi Nayeli,
The mats that grow in the webbed, pinnacled shapes very closely resemble shapes we find in the rock record from very early on in earth's history. We hope to learn more about these early species by studying modern ones with similar shapes.

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 13:23

Lucy Coleman

Hi Jasmine,
The ice is about 4-5 meters thick, so that's what we need to drill through. Microbes are so small and many look alike, so we won't know how many unique kinds we have until we are able to analyze their DNA.

Wed, 11/05/2014 - 13:25

Lucy Coleman

Hi Cameron,
We haven't been able to take many samples because our grab sampler turns out to be a little too big to fit down most of our drill holes. (We're working on that!). We are aiming to find the webbed pinnacled mats in a sort of bathtub ring around the lake about 10-13 meters below the surface.

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 14:26

Lucy Coleman

Carolina – Good question! Once we have drill hole open, it takes us about an hour to take all of our measurements and drop the cameras down the hole, and we've done that process 13 times since we got here. It takes much longer to actually look at the data and think about what it means. That's a process that will continue long after the team returns to the United States.

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 14:32

Lucy Coleman

There are a couple of ways to tell how old a rock layer is. In some cases, you can analyze the composition of elements in the rock using chemistry to tell how old it is. Additionally, if it's sedimentary rock, you can look at the layers of sediment. Usually, the bottom layer is the oldest, with newer layers on top. If you know the rate the layers of sediment get deposited, you can form an estimate of how old a layer is. You could also try to find the same rock layer in a different area, and see if there are clues, like particular fossils, that tell you how old the layer might be.

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 14:38

Lucy Coleman

Kenverly – Drilling isn't dangerous because the holes we create are either 5 or 10 inches wide, not wide enough for anyone to fall into. However, we do have to be really careful not to drop stuff in the hole accidentally, like bolts and other smaller drill pieces... or the chipper bar! That would be very bad because the influx of metals into the lake could change the ecosystem.

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 14:39

Lucy Coleman

Jessica – Our main focus on this expedition is to learn more about the influence of sedimentation on microbial mat shapes. However, there are a lot of other questions that come up as we do research that we could collect data on and think about also. For instance, Megan is collecting samples of microbes for looking at with microscopes and analyzing DNA to understand which microbes are part of a community.

Thu, 11/06/2014 - 16:51

mbahi

Hi Lucy,My names Max Bahi From the Springs School. You Might now my Teacher Mrs.Seff , I was wandering how many microbes did you caputer on the bottom of the lake with the "Grab sampler"? Also how long does it take for the "grab sampler" to get the the bottom of lake Joyce?

Sun, 11/09/2014 - 15:53

Lucy Coleman

Max – The grab sampler is pretty solid and heavy, so if we just let the line go that we hold on the surface, it would plunge through the water like a rock. Once it's at the bottom, it snaps shut, scooping up about 1 cup of sediment and microbes.