A team of international researchers from the MIO, the Université de Pau et Pays de l'Adour, the Université de Reims Champagne Ardenne and the Institut de Ciències del Mar Barcelona has studied the shallow hydrothermal vents at Prony, New Caledonia.
For 4 weeks, we sampled several vent sites in Prony Bay, the most important of which are the Aiguille, the Bain des Japonais and the Rivière de Kaori. This fieldwork was an opportunity to inaugurate the IRD's new research boat, Coraline, the first dives to 50+m and infrared mapping using a drone.
The objectives of the mission are twofold: to study the inputs and biogeochemistry of mercury and other elements, their role in the formation of microbial communities and the propagation and possible impacts on the local food web (HOT-Hg project), and to study the diversity of alkaliphilic microorganisms and their contribution to the H2 and CH4 balance of this extreme ecosystem (MICROPRONY project).
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We would like to thank the IRD diving team, Bertrand Bourgeois, Magali Boussion, Mahé Dumas, Jordi Giraud, Captain Martin Nguyen and the local support team at IRD Nouméa, in particular France Bailly, Vincent Robert, Cyzié Montazi, Céline Bachelier, Amandine Delepierre, Véronique Perrin and Clarisse Majorel.
We would like to thank the funders ANR HOT_Hg, ANR MICROPRONY, IRD MLD and MIO Action Transverse.
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