Volcanoes and wetland biogeochemistry

I am interested in how volcanoes interact with carbon rich ecosystems such as natural wetlands over annual to millennial time scales. I’m particularly interested in how volcanic emissions and deposition impact on the carbon balance of these ecosystems both in terms of their C accumulation/ decomposition rates (there is as much C locked away in peatlands as there is currently in the atmosphere) and in terms of their emission of important greenhouse gases such as methane (CH4), of which natural wetlands form the largest individual source.

On this last point, I have published work on how the sulfate component of volcanogenic acid rain can stimulate a competitive microbial interaction in natural wetlands that can result in prolonged (decadal) suppression in the emission of CH4 (Gauci et al 2005). This work therefore reported a new way by which volcanoes can impact on Earth’s radiative balance. Further work is in preparation showing that large volcanic eruptions such as the Icelandic Laki eruption in 1783 may have significantly impacted on the atmosphere’s CH4 content via this interaction.
Work is ongoing to investigate how different components of volcanic fallout (e.g. tephra/ dry deposited gases) may impact on wetland biogeochemistry and on plant growth and C accumulation of these ecosystems.