Application form InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship ...

Independent Administrative InstitutionJapan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and TechnologyYokosuka headquarters2-15 Natsushima-Cho, Yokosuka-city, Kanagawa, Japan 237-0061Tel.: +81-46-867-9677 Fax: +81-46-867-9715InterRidge CoordinatorNational Oceanography Centre, SouthamptonEuropean WaySouthamptonSO14 3ZHUKTo whom correspondingMarch 24, 2010It is my great honor to recommend Dr. Shinsuke Kawagucci for InterRidge Student and PostdoctoralFellowship Program 2010. First of all, I affirm that Dr. Shinsuke Kawagucci deserves an excellent candidate.[Present research of Dr. Kawagucci and relationship between his proposal and present study]I am now working with Dr. Kawagucci for a research project on biogeochemical interaction in physical,chemical and 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 and we have collaborated with geochemical and 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 and technique in different fields of sciences and to havemultidisciplinary sense of science. I have been very much impressed at his talents and potentials during ourcollaboration and have proposed a post-doctoral position in JAMSTEC to him. In his present study, he focuseson characterization of microbial functions in deep seafloor and subseafloor H 2 consumption and generation,particularly hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, acetogenesis, sulfate-reduction, sulfur-reduction, iron-reduction,nitrate (O 2 )-reduction and organics-fermentation, with respect to the kinetics and the isotopic equilibration andfractionation. He addresses this objective in terms of the field-observation and –measurement, and thelaboratory-experiment. This study will provide a great insight into understanding the potential microbiologicalcontrol of the hydrothermal fluid chemistry and chemical fluxes. However, in this opportunity of InterRidgeStudent and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program 2010, he is going to challenge another aspect to control thehydrothermal fluid chemistry and chemical fluxes in the sediments-associated hydrothermal systems. He seeksto estimate the geochemical interaction between the sediments and the hydrothermal fluids to affect the gascomposition and 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 and 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 and 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 InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program 2010.[Strength and 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 and gas species. In addition, he is