Clare E. Reimers

TL;DR: These results demonstrate in real marine environments a new form of power generation that uses an immense, renewable energy reservoir (sedimentary organic carbon) and has near-immediate application.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors proposed that the sediment/anode−seawater/cathode configuration constitutes a microbial fuel cell in which power results from the net oxidation of sediment organic matter by dissolved seawater oxygen.

TL;DR: Future studies designed to help optimize the harvesting of electricity from aquatic sediments or waste organic matter should focus on the electrode interactions of these microorganisms which are most competitive in colonizing anodes and cathodes.

TL;DR: While cold seeps have the potential to provide more power than neighbouring ocean sediments, the limits of mass transport as well as the proclivity for passivation must be considered when developing new benthic microbial fuel cell designs to meet specific power requirements.

TL;DR: In situ microelectrode, box-core pore water gradient, and in situ benthic chamber estimates of organic carbon degradation and CaCO3 dissolution are combined with organic-C and carbonate-C accumulation rates to approximate the total carbon flux to the seafloor along two transects of the continental slope and rise off central California as discussed by the authors.