of Geochemical Society of Japan (2005).Chief of the organizing committee members, Intercollegiate competition of Swimming inHokkaido area (2002).Black Belt in JUDO (1998).Member of soccer-football teams at Ocean Research Institute, the Univ. of Tokyo(2006/04-2009/03) <strong>and</strong> JAMSTEC (2009/04-current).
Independent Administrative InstitutionJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science <strong>and</strong> TechnologyYokosuka headquarters2-15 Natsushima-Cho, Yokosuka-city, Kanagawa, Japan 237-0061Tel.: +81-46-867-9677 Fax: +81-46-867-9715<strong>InterRidge</strong> CoordinatorNational Oceanography Centre, SouthamptonEuropean WaySouthamptonSO14 3ZHUKTo whom correspondingMarch 24, 2010It is my great honor to recommend Dr. Shinsuke Kawagucci for <strong>InterRidge</strong> <strong>Student</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Postdoctoral</strong><strong>Fellowship</strong> Program 2010. First of all, I affirm that Dr. Shinsuke Kawagucci deserves an excellent c<strong>and</strong>idate.[Present research of Dr. Kawagucci <strong>and</strong> relationship between his proposal <strong>and</strong> present study]I am now working with Dr. Kawagucci for a research project on biogeochemical interaction in physical,chemical <strong>and</strong> hydrogeologic variation of subseafloor hydrothermal fluid processes. He has got his Ph. D. inOceanographic Research Institute (ORI) in the University Tokyo under a direction of Professor ToshitakaGamo (ocean geochemist). During his Ph. D. thesis, he has started the isotopic characterization of gascomponents in the deep-sea hydrothermal fluids <strong>and</strong> we have collaborated with geochemical <strong>and</strong> microbialimpacts on hydrogen-isotopic composition of H 2 in the hydrothermal fluids. In the collaboration, he has shownto me his excellent ability to learn about knowledge <strong>and</strong> technique in different fields of sciences <strong>and</strong> to havemultidisciplinary sense of science. I have been very much impressed at his talents <strong>and</strong> potentials during ourcollaboration <strong>and</strong> have proposed a post-doctoral position in JAMSTEC to him. In his present study, he focuseson characterization of microbial functions in deep seafloor <strong>and</strong> subseafloor H 2 consumption <strong>and</strong> generation,particularly hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, acetogenesis, sulfate-reduction, sulfur-reduction, iron-reduction,nitrate (O 2 )-reduction <strong>and</strong> organics-fermentation, with respect to the kinetics <strong>and</strong> the isotopic equilibration <strong>and</strong>fractionation. He addresses this objective in terms of the field-observation <strong>and</strong> –measurement, <strong>and</strong> thelaboratory-experiment. This study will provide a great insight into underst<strong>and</strong>ing the potential microbiologicalcontrol of the hydrothermal fluid chemistry <strong>and</strong> chemical fluxes. However, in this opportunity of <strong>InterRidge</strong><strong>Student</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Postdoctoral</strong> <strong>Fellowship</strong> Program 2010, he is going to challenge another aspect to control thehydrothermal fluid chemistry <strong>and</strong> chemical fluxes in the sediments-associated hydrothermal systems. He seeksto estimate the geochemical interaction between the sediments <strong>and</strong> the hydrothermal fluids to affect the gascomposition <strong>and</strong> isotopic characteristics. Surely, his proposed objective is strongly linked with his presentstudy but apparently give a great extension to his present study. As written in his proposal, he is willing towork with Prof. Dr. Jeffery Seewald, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI), for the experimentalcharacterization of thermogenic H 2 <strong>and</strong> CH 4 under the simulated laboratory conditions. This kind of study wasindeed led by Dr. Jeffery Seewald in 1990s. Thus, Dr. Jeffery Seewald is the best person in the world for him tolearn the laboratory geochemical experiments <strong>and</strong> Dr. Jeffery Seewald’s lab is the best place for him to work.To learn the essence of the experiments is quite hard in JAMSTEC. I believe that his proposal perfectlymatches the purpose of <strong>InterRidge</strong> <strong>Student</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Postdoctoral</strong> <strong>Fellowship</strong> Program 2010.[Strength <strong>and</strong> weakness of his ability]He has been trained in ocean geochemistry laboratory in his Ph. D. thesis. Thus, he has already acquiredgeneral geochemical techniques of measurement of major elements, ions <strong>and</strong> gas species. In addition, he is
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