Dr. Eric Epping		ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SEA RESEARCH   Postal address: P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB Den Burg (Texel) The Netherlands   Visiting address: Landsdiep 4 NL-1797 SZ ’t Horntje (Texel) The Netherlands   Phone: (+31) (0)222-369300 Fax: (+31) (0)222-319674
	Room: C007, Dept: GEO E-mail @nioz.nl : eric.epping Phone: (+31) (0)222-369444
Research Interests:
During my first post-doctoral fellowship at the Max-Planck-Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen (Germany), my work focused on the relationships between benthic photosynthesis and respiratory processes in microbial mats. Microelectrodes were used to measure steady state and transient concentration profiles as a function of irradiance and temperature in intertidal and Mediterranean microbial mats. The numerical analysis of oxygen and sulfide transients, enabled us to calculate rates of oxygen respiration and to estimate apparent kinetic parameters of oxygen respiration in intact, undisturbed samples. These studies demonstrated the tight coupling between benthic photosynthesis and respiration in benthic communities through the oxidation of photoexudates and reductants from anaerobic mineralization pathways. During my post-doctoral fellowship at the Royal NIOZ, I have been involved in early diagenetic studies on the open Iberian Margin and in the Nazaré Canyon to assess the role of canyons in of-shelf transport (EU framework of OMEX-II). Sediment organic carbon budgets were reconstructed from geochemical data, partly obtained by in situ measurements and incubations with benthic landers, using a coupled diagenetic model developed at NIOO-CEME in Yerseke (Netherlands). Following this approach, we could estimate the quantity and quality of organic carbon deposited, mineralised and buried at the canyon-floor and open shelf and to quantify  the cross shelf-slope transport of organic carbon produced in Iberian coastal shelf waters. Since the start of the second post-doctoral period, the research activities have been directed towards the remineralisation of organic carbon in porous sandy sediments of the southern North Sea, subject to physical irrigation as a consequence of hydrostatic pressure variations induced by bottom water flow over rippled sediments and submarine sand dunes. Throughout the two post-doctoral periods at the Royal NIOZ until present, substantial effort has been made to develop new tools and techniques for in situ benthic measurements and experimentation. Since spring 2002, we are developing a mobile vehicle for benthic ocean research, called MOVE!.
Current research:
Within the OMEX-II framework, we did a pilot study on transport and regeneration of biogenic matter in the Nazaré Canyon, one of the largest European submarine canyons, located at the Iberian Margin. At present, we are quantifying the of-shelf transport of biogenic particulate matter for different canyons on the Atlantic coast of the Iberian peninsula (Sétubal and Nazaré) and the Creus Canyon located on the Mediterranean coast.
Publications (updated June 2004)
Epping, E.H.G. and Jørgensen, B.B., 1996. Light-enhanced oxygen respiration in benthic phototrophic communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 139: 193-203.   Lohse, L., Epping, E.H.G., Helder, W. and van Raaphorst, W., 1996. Oxygen pore water profiles in continental shelf sediments of the North Sea: Turbulent versus molecular diffusion. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 145: 63-75.   Slomp, C.P., Epping, E.H.G., Helder, W. and van Raaphorst, W., 1996. A key role for iron-bound phosphorus in authigenic apatite formation in North Atlantic continental platform sediments. Journal of Marine Research, 54: 1179-1205.   Soetaert, K., Herman, P.M.J., Middelburg, J.J., Heip, C., de Stigter, H.S., van Weering, T.C.E., Epping, E. and Helder, W. 1996. Modelling Pb-210-derived mixing activity in ocean-margin sediments-diffusive versus nonlocal mixing. Journal of Marine Research, 54(6): 1207-1227.   Epping, E.H.G. and Helder, W., 1997. Oxygen budgets calculated from in situ oxygen microprofiles for Northern Adriatic sediments. Continental Shelf Research, 17(14): 1737-1764.   De Beer, D., Glud, A., Epping, E. and Kühl, M., 1997. A fast-responding CO2 micro-electrode for profiling sediments, microbial mats, and biofilms. Limnology and Oceanography, 42(7): 1590-1600.   Balzer, W., Helder, W., Epping, E., Lohse, L. and Otto, S., 1998. Benthic denitrification and nitrogen cycling at the slope and rise of the N.W. European Continental Margin (Goban Spur). Progress in Oceanography, 42: 111-126.   Epping, E.H.G., Schoemann, V. and de Heij, H., 1998. Manganese and iron oxidation during benthic oxygenic photosynthesis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 47: 753-767.   Lohse, L., Helder, W., Epping, E.H.G. and Balzer, W., 1998. Recycling of organic matter along a shelf-slope transect across the N.W. European continental margin (Goban Spur). Progress in Oceanography, 42: 77-110.   Epping, E.H.G., Khalili, A. and Thar, R., 1999. Photosynthesis and the dynamics of oxygen consumption in a microbial mat as calculated from transient oxygen microprofiles. Limnology and Oceanography, 44(8): 1936-1948.   Ploug, H., Stolte, W., Epping, E.H.G. and Jørgensen, B.B., 1999. Diffusive boundary layers, photosynthesis, and respiration of the colony-forming plankton algae, Phaeocystis sp. Limnology and Oceanography, 44(8): 1949-1958.   Pringault, O., Epping, E., Guyoneaud, R., Khalili, A. and Kühl, M., 1999. Dynamics of anoxygenic photosynthesis in an experimental green sulphur bacteria biofilm. Environmental Microbiology, 1(4): 295-305.   Epping, E., and Kühl, M., 2000. The responses of photosynthesis and oxygen consumption in a cyanobacterial mat to short-term changes in temperature and irradiance. Environmental Microbiology 2 (4): 465-474.   Van der Zee, C., van Raaphorst, W. and Epping, E., 2001. Adsorbed Mn2+ and Mn redox cycling in Iberian Continental Margin sediments (North East Atlantic Ocean). Journal of Marine Research 59: 133-166.   Epping, E., van der Zee, C., Soetaert, K., Helder, W., 2002. On the oxidation and burial of organic carbon in sediments of the Iberian Margin and Nazaré Canyon (NE Atlantic). Progress in Oceanography (52): 399-431.   Herman, P.M.J., Soetaert, K., Middelburg, J.J., Heip, C., Lohse, L., Epping, E., Helder, W., Antia, A. and Peinert, R., 2002. The seafloor as the ultimate sediment trap-using sediment properties to constrain benthic-pelagic exchange processes at the Goban Spur. Deep-Sea Research 48 (14-15): 3245-3264.   Van Weering, T.C.E., de Stigter, H.C., Balzer, W., Epping, E.H.G., Graf, G., Hall, I.R., Helder, W., Khripounoff, A., Lohse. L., McCave, I.N., Thomsen, L. and Vangriesheim, A., 2002. Benthic dynamics and carbon fluxes on the NW European continental margin. Deep-Sea Research 48 (14-15): 3191-3222.   Grutters, M., van Raaphorst, W., Epping, E., Helder, W., de Leeuw, J. W., Glavin, D. P. and Bada, J., 2002. Preservation of amino acids from in situ-produced bacterial cell wall peptidoglycans in northeastern Atlantic continental margin sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 47(5): 1521-1524.   Koning, E., Epping, E., van Raaphorst, W., 2002. Determining biogenic silica in marine samples by tracking silicate and aluminium concentrations in alkaline leaching solutions. Aquatic Geochemistry 8: 37-67.   Bonnin, J., E. Koning, E. Epping, G.-J. Brummer & M. Grutters. Geochemical characterization of resuspended sediment on the south-east slope of the Faeroe-Shetland Channel. In press, Marine Geology.   Rocha, C.S., S. Forster, E. Koning and E. Epping. High-resolution permeability determination and two-dimensional pore water flow in sandy sediment. In press: Limnology and Oceanography: Methods.   -Books, or contributions to books Epping, H.G. The sequestration of phytogenic carbon in the ocean. In "Marine science frontiers for Europe”. Wefer, G., Lamy, F., Mantoura, F. (eds). Springer Verlag, Berlin, pp 131-146.