78815d18-4d54-6f3e-e054-002128a47908 English dataset British Geological Survey +44 115 936 3100 Environmental Science Centre,Keyworth NOTTINGHAM NOTTINGHAMSHIRE NG12 5GG United Kingdom enquiries@bgs.ac.uk pointOfContact 2026-05-03 UK GEMINI 2.3 http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13607393 Data from Chicxulub crater (NERC grant NE/P006736/1) 2018-10-11 creation http://data.bgs.ac.uk/id/dataHolding/13607393 Cell count data from the Chicxulub crater. Grant abstract: The deep subsurface is recognised to be an environment that supports a large and diverse microbial biosphere, and yet we still know very little about how microorganisms grow in this environment, what their spatial diversity is and how this diversity is controlled by subsurface geochemical conditions. Previous research has primarily focused on deep-ocean sediments. Work in these environments has shown that geochemical interfaces are important for determining the diversity of the subsurface biosphere. Little is known about how the subsurface biosphere in marine environments compares to that in continental subsurface environments. Our laboratory will acquire core samples collected from the peak ring of the 66 million-year old Chicxulub impact structure buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico in April-May 2016 during IODP Expedition 364. This end-Cretaceous impact structure is hypothesised to have been responsible for causing the extinction of the dinosaurs and ~75% of all other life at this time. The drill core will be retrieved with microbiological contamination control to ~1.5 km depth. Thus, the drill core offers the opportunity to investigate the subsurface microbiology of a continental site and also how the microbial diversity relates to a unique, but well-defined subsurface lithologic sequence. In this project we propose to use these cores to gain new insights into the diversity of microorganisms in the subsurface. In this project we will: 1) Quantify the biomass of microorganisms through the core and correlate it to the lithologies to understand how microbial life in the continental deep subsurface is influenced by lithology, 2) Specifically investigate how microbial abundance and diversity is correlated to impact lithologies to understand how impacts can disrupt the deep subsurface biosphere, 3) Culture and use '-omics' methods such as metagenomics to understand how the functional capabilities and metabolisms of organisms correlate to the environment and lithology through the core to gain a better understanding of microbial biogeochemical processes in the deep subsurface in general and specifically in an impact crater, 4) Use the above data to understand more generally how life recolonises impact craters and how craters might provide a habitat for life despite otherwise catastrophic effects on large surface dwelling life. Charles Cockell University of Edinburgh School of Physics and Astronomy James Clerk Maxwell Building, Peter Guthrie Tait Road EDINBURGH EH9 3FD not available pointOfContact Charles Cockell University of Edinburgh School of Physics and Astronomy James Clerk Maxwell Building, Peter Guthrie Tait Road EDINBURGH EH9 3FD not available principalInvestigator notApplicable https://resources.bgs.ac.uk/images/geonetworkThumbs/78815d18-4d54-6f3e-e054-002128a47908.png Geology GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 2008-06-01 publication Microorganisms Impact structures Core samples BGS Thesaurus of Geosciences 2022 revision NGDC Deposited Data dataCentre NERC_DDC otherRestrictions no limitations The dataset is made freely available for access, e.g. via the Internet. Either no third party data / information is contained in the dataset or BGS has secured written permission from the owner(s) of any third party data / information contained in the dataset to make the dataset freely accessible. otherRestrictions The copyright of materials derived from the British Geological Survey's work is vested in the Natural Environment Research Council [NERC]. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a retrieval system of any nature, without the prior permission of the copyright holder, via the BGS Intellectual Property Rights Manager. Use by customers of information provided by the BGS, is at the customer's own risk. In view of the disparate sources of information at BGS's disposal, including such material donated to BGS, that BGS accepts in good faith as being accurate, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the quality or accuracy of the information supplied, or to the information's suitability for any use. NERC/BGS accepts no liability whatever in respect of loss, damage, injury or other occurence however caused. Available under the Open Government Licence subject to the following acknowledgement accompanying the reproduced NERC materials "Contains NERC materials ©NERC [year]" English geoscientificInformation British Geological Survey Gazetteer: Geographical hierarchy from Geosaurus 1979 creation YUCATAN PENINSULA [id=799700] -91.0000 -88.0000 21.0000 22.0000 2016-04-01 2016-06-01 ICDP drilling of Chicxulub crater Microsoft Excel witheld https://webapps.bgs.ac.uk/services/ngdc/accessions/index.html#item120691 WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download Data download dataset dataset INSPIRE Implementing rules laying down technical arrangements for the interoperability and harmonisation of Geology 2011 publication See the referenced specification false Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services 2010-12-08 publication See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:323:0011:0102:EN:PDF false Staining and counting. See: Morgan J. et al. Proceedings of the International Ocean Discovery Program: Chicxulub: Drilling the K-Pg Impact Crater. Volume 364, IODP (2018).