IMET Seminar: Dr. Maya Gomes

Dr. Maya Gomes is an Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. She uses the sulfur cycle as a window into exploring biogeochemical cycling and microbial ecology in both modern and ancient systems with the ultimate goal of evaluating environmental drivers of major Earth-life transitions. For example, she has used models of water column biogeochemistry in modern lakes to explore how isotope records provide information about environmental changes associated with Ocean Anoxic Events and other mass extinctions. Although much of her work is centered around exploring how modern systems can be used to explore environmental change in the past, her research also provides insight into how climate change will influence biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem resilience in future.

Title: A Geobiologist’s Perspective on Pistachio Tides

Abstract: Sulfur bacteria blooms are rapid accumulations of phototropic sulfur oxidizing bacteria that occur when sulfide-rich waters rich come to the surface where they are exposed to sunlight. Locally called Pistachio tides for the milky, green color of the water, these blooms have been stinking up Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and other locations in Chesapeake Bay, where they are variably accompanied by fishkills. Maya Gomes is a geobiologist who studies how information about sulfur bacteria and their environment gets captured in sedimentary rocks. The sedimentary record indicates that phototropic sulfur oxidizing bacteria were common in coastal environments during the early evolution of multicellular life and ancient periods of climate change. Maya will present some perspectives on what is causing these blooms based on water quality data, satellite images, and preliminary microbial diversity and geochemical data, as well as previous work in other modern and ancient sulfidic environments.