Marv D Lilley

Marv Lilley is a Professor in the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington. He has worked on the Lost City system since its discovery in 2000. His work focuses on understanding the carbon cycle at this site and the evolution of volatiles in a serpentinite-dominated system. Marv has mentored two PhD. students whose dissertations were in part centered on Lost City: Susan Lang and Giora Proskurowski. Their work showed that the  Lost Cityfluids  contain higher concentrations of formate  and acetate  than any other non-sedimented hydrothermal system studied to date [Lang et al., 2010], unequivocal evidence for the abiogenic production of low molecular weight hydrocarbons [Proskurowski et al., 2008], and elevated concentrations of hydrogen [Proskurowski et al., 2006]. Their work has important implications for the energy in the deep biosphere at Lost City and life that thrives within serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal systems.