Welcome to the website of
METU Deep Sea Research Group!

We are a multidisciplinary research group located at the Institute of Marine Sciences, Middle East Technical University in Turkey, pursuing scientific research in deep marine environments. Our research group mainly aims to investigate biogeochemical cycles in the ocean, geochemical drivers of seafloor ecosystems (vents, seeps, reducing sediments), and the development of novel chemical sensors to study the dynamic environmental processes in situ under the supervision of Dr. Mustafa Yücel.

For further details, you can check our research page, latest publications, and our interactive field map showing where we are working in the world's oceans. Also, you can meet with group members and find related videos from past events.

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News & Events

| click here to see all happenings!

PI Mustafa Yücel has started leading 3 H2020 projects, Black Sea CONNECT and BRIDGE-BS as co-coordinator and ARSINOE as the METU PI.
PI Mustafa Yücel gave a talk "From expanding anoxia to recent sea snot events: Biogeochemical transformation of the connected Black Sea - Marmara Sea System in response to multiple stressors" as an invited speaker at University of Leeds, UK.
PI Mustafa Yucel published a paper "High He-3/He-4 in central Panama reveals a distal connection to the Galapagos plume" in PNAS!
Deep Sea Redox Research Group members published a book chapter "Anaerobic and chemosynthetic ecosystems of Turkish deep-seas" in "Extreme Marine Environments of Turkey" book of Turkish Marine Research Foundation.
PI Mustafa Yücel and Serhat Sevgen's paper "Soluble, Colloidal, and Particulate Iron Across the Hydrothermal Vent Mixing Zones in Broken Spur and Rainbow, Mid-Atlantic Ridge" was published in Frontiers in Microbiology!
PI Mustafa Yücel published a paper "Fe-catalyzed sulfide oxidation in hydrothermal plumes is a source of reactive oxygen species to the ocean" in PNAS!
PI Mustafa Yücel and İsmail Akçay published a book chapter "The Sea Snot Outbreak in the Sea of Marmara: Biogeochemical Transformations of the Sea, Modern-Day Pressures and a Roadmap for the Way Forward" in "Ecology of the Marmara Sea: Formation and Interactions of Marine Mucilage, and Recommendations for Solutions" book of Turkish Academy of Sciences.
PI Mustafa Yucel published a paper "Effect of tectonic processes on biosphere-geosphere feedbacks across a convergent margin" in Nature Geoscience!
İsmail Akçay and PI Mustafa Yücel's paper "Benthic Nutrient Fluxes Across a Productive Shelf Adjacent to an Oligotrophic Basin: Case of the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea" is now available in EarthArXiv!
İsmail Akçay attended Goldschmidt 2021 in Lyon, France between 4-9 July 2021.
Research cruises for DEEPREDOX project were conducted with R/V Bilim-2 in the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea in November 2020 and June 2021.

‘From Deep Sea to Space’ Hands-On Exhibition:
Our DeepTrace ERC Project Showcased at TEKNOFEST!

Organized in collaboration with numerous institutions, TEKNOFEST plays a critical role in advancing Turkey’s national science and technology ecosystem. TEKNOFEST İstanbul was held between 17–21 September 2025 at İstanbul Atatürk Airport, attracting more than 1,503,000 visitors over the course of 4 days.

In the frame of TEKNOFEST 2025, we have created, designed, hand manufactured a one-of-a-kind ‘From Deep Sea to Space’ hands-on exhibition, where the specific ecosystem of the East Pacific Rise, 9N study site was simulated.

Funding Agencies

We would like to thank to our past and present funding agencies: TÜBİTAK, Turkish Academy of Science, the Science Academy, European Commission, DEKOSİM, Deep Carbon Observatory, and National Science Foundation.

PI Mustafa Yücel has started leading 3 H2020 projects, Black Sea CONNECT and BRIDGE-BS as co-coordinator and ARSINOE as the METU PI.

PI Mustafa Yücel gave a talk "From expanding anoxia to recent sea snot events: Biogeochemical transformation of the connected Black Sea - Marmara Sea System in response to multiple stressors" as an invited speaker at University of Leeds, UK.

PI Mustafa Yucel published a paper "High He-3/He-4 in central Panama reveals a distal connection to the Galapagos plume" in PNAS!

Deep Sea Redox Research Group members published a book chapter "Anaerobic and chemosynthetic ecosystems of Turkish deep-seas" in "Extreme Marine Environments of Turkey" book of Turkish Marine Research Foundation.

PI Mustafa Yücel and Serhat Sevgen's paper "Soluble, Colloidal, and Particulate Iron Across the Hydrothermal Vent Mixing Zones in Broken Spur and Rainbow, Mid-Atlantic Ridge" was published in Frontiers in Microbiology!

PI Mustafa Yücel published a paper "Fe-catalyzed sulfide oxidation in hydrothermal plumes is a source of reactive oxygen species to the ocean" in PNAS!

PI Mustafa Yucel published a paper "Effect of tectonic processes on biosphere-geosphere feedbacks across a convergent margin" in Nature Geoscience!

İsmail Akçay and PI Mustafa Yücel's paper "Benthic Nutrient Fluxes Across a Productive Shelf Adjacent to an Oligotrophic Basin: Case of the Northeastern Mediterranean Sea" is now available in EarthArXiv!

İsmail Akçay attended Goldschmidt 2021 in Lyon, France between 4-9 July 2021.

Research cruises for DEEPREDOX project were conducted with R/V Bilim-2 in the Sea of Marmara and Black Sea in November 2020 and June 2021.

We would like to thank to our past and present funding agencies: TÜBİTAK, Turkish Academy of Science, the Science Academy, European Commission, DEKOSİM, Deep Carbon Observatory, and National Science Foundation.