Louisa Norman

 

PhD candidate - UTS - C3 - COAST Lab 

 

Project Title: Role of Saccharides in the Transformation of Iron Chemistry in Seawater

 

Project Background
The PhD will be focussed on bacterial and algal saccharides with the goal of investigating how natural organic matter produced in situ can affect iron biogeochemical cycling and its control of primary productivity and C fixation. The project will be undertaken within a larger multidisciplinary project entitled “Novel technologies to resolve the role of organic matter on iron chemistry and bioavailability in the South Pacific Ocean”* recently funded by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery Project scheme and provides a unique opportunity to understand the complex interplay between iron chemistry and biology. Research associated with this project is timely and can be seen as a vital element of global efforts to advance our understanding of iron-related oceanic processes, as manifest in several international scientific programs.

 

Experimental Design
Competitive ligand exchange adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry will be used to investigate iron complexation while in-line flow injection will be used to study iron redox chemistry. Both kinetics and thermodynamics aspects of iron chemistry will be studied. It is anticipated that this project will involve participation in one or more oceanographic voyages in the Southern Ocean or the Tasman Sea.

 

* Leading CI: Dr. Christel Hassler (UTS) Co-CI’s: Dr Martina Doblin (UTS), Dr Andrew Bowie (UTas, Hobart), Dr. Carol Mancuso-Nichols (CSIRO, Hobart), Dr Edward Butler (CSIRO), Prof. Vera Slaveykova (EPFL, Switzerland).