Abstract: Introduction: Ultracarbonaceous Antarctic Micrometeorites (UCAMMS) are extraterrestrial dust particles containing large amount of carbonaceous material with elevated D/H ratios [1] and high N/C atomic ratio (up to 0.2)[2]. UCAMMS are rare (~ 1% of the particles in the Concordia meteorite collection) but they have been identified in several collection of interplanetary dust [3, 4]. They are most probably of cometary origin. Here, we studied the association of organic matter and minerals by scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM-XANES) coupled with scanning transmission electronic microscopy (TEM/STEM). Samples and Methods: The UCAMMs studied here were collected in the Antarctic snow, close to the Concordia station at Dome C [3]. FIB sections of 8 UCAMMs (DC06-18, DC06-41, DC06-43, DC06-65, DC06-308, DC06-139, DC16-30, DC16-309) were analyzed using synchrotron based STXM-XANES at the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen K-edges. The FIB sections were subsequently analyzed with transmission electron microscopy (TEM/STEM) using a FEI Tecnai G2 20 and a FEI TITAN Themis 300 [5, 6]. Peak identification of STXM-XANES spectra are based on [7]. XANES spectra are processed and quantified using Quantorxs method [8] and quantification of STEM EDS spectra has been realized using Hyperspy software [9]. Here, we mainly present results obtained on two recently identified UCAMMs (DC06-308 and DC16-309) and compare them with previous observations [1, 5, 6]. Results: The STXM-XANES analysis reveals 3 types of organic matter (OM) characterized by different carbon speciation. Figure 1 shows type I OM in blue and type II OM in green, both having spectra close to that of chondritic insoluble organic matter (IOM). The main peaks of type I and II OMs are found around 284.8 eV (aromatic and olefinic groups (C=C)), 286.4 eV (ketone and phenol C=O) and 288.4 eV (carboxyl O=C-O). Type II OM exhibits similar functional groups as type I OM but the first peak position is shifted to 285 eV, indicating a stronger contribution of the aromatic groups. The atomic N/C ratio of types I/II OMs range between 0.01 and 0.05 (1?=0.02) similar to those of chondritic IOM. The type III, in red on Figure 1 exhibits larger differences. The main peak is at 286.4 eV (C?N nitrile), a small peak at 284.8 eV (alkene

Abstract: Cephalopods are an important component of Southern Ocean food webs, but aspects of their trophic ecology remain unresolved. Here, we used archived squid (order Teuthida) beaks, collected from stomach contents of predators at Macquarie and Kerguelen Islands, to investigate the trophic structure within an assemblage of pelagic squids (Alluroteuthis antarcticus, Filippovia knipovitchi, Gonatus antarcticus, Histioteuthis eltaninae, Martialia hyadesi and Brachioteuthis linkovskyi). We combined bulk nitrogen stable isotopes (?15Nbulk) with compound-specific isotope analysis of amino acids (CSIA-AA) to estimate the trophic position (TP) of species and to assess isotopic relationships with body size at the species, community, and ocean basin levels. We observed significantly higher mean ?15Nbulk values for species at the Kerguelen Islands compared to conspecifics at Macquarie Island. This result was explained by regional variability in ?15N values of phenylalanine (?15NPhe), suggesting that predator species were accessing different isotopic baselines at each region. This may highlight the different foraging strategies of both species. The overlap in species TP estimates from CSIA-AA (TPCSIA) between the 2 communities (Macquarie Island TPCSIA min: 2.3, max: 5.3; Kerguelen Islands TPCSIA min: 2.7, max: 5.3) indicated a similar trophic structure at both locations. We note unrealistically low TPCSIA for some species, which we attribute to uncertainty of trophic discrimination factors. TP estimates suggested that squid encompass 3 trophic levels from mid-trophic levels to higher predators. We did not find strong or consistent relationships between TP and body size at either the species- or community-level. One of the largest squid species, M. hyadesi, occupied the lowest TP in both communities. These new insights into the trophic structure of the Southern Ocean squid community have important implications for the future representation of pelagic squids in ecosystem models.