Metal-support interactions are frequently invoked to explain the enhanced catalytic activity of metal nanoparticles dispersed over reducible metal-oxide supports, yet the atomic scale mechanisms are rarely known. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy to study a Pt 1-6 /Fe 3 O 4 model catalyst exposed to CO, H 2 , O 2 , and mixtures thereof, at 550 K. CO extracts lattice oxygen at the cluster perimeter to form CO 2 , creating large holes in the metal-oxide surface. H 2 and O 2 dissociate on the metal clusters and spill over onto the support. The former creates create surface hydroxyl groups, which react with the support to desorb water, while atomic oxygen reacts with Fe from the bulk to create new Fe 3 O 4 (001) islands. The presence of the Pt is crucial because it catalyses reactions that already occur on the bare iron-oxide surface, but at higher temperatures. Variations in the CO oxidation activity of nominally similar metal nanoparticles dispersed over different metal oxides [1] are a clear indicator of metal-support interactions, but the mechanisms by which the metal oxide gets involved are difficult to ascertain. The support is known to transfer electrons to (or from) the clusters [2] , modifying their shape and adsorption properties, and adsorb reactants and promoters (e.g. water) that can speed up the reaction [3] . At elevated temperature, the so-called Mars-van Krevelen (MvK) mechanism [1i] can occur, where CO molecules extract lattice oxygen (O lattice ) at the cluster perimeter forming CO 2 , and gas phase O 2 repairs the surface to complete the catalytic cycle. While there is mounting evidence that MvK plays a role when reducible metal oxides are utilized as the support [1i] , there is little atomic-scale information available to better understand how the process occurs.In this paper, we use scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to follow the evolution of a Pt/Fe 3 O 4 (001) model catalyst exposed to CO, O 2 and H 2 at 550 K. Holes and islands in the vicinity of Pt clusters provide direct evidence of reduction and oxidation of the metal oxide in CO and O 2 rich atmospheres respectively, while dissociation and spillover of H 2 leads to hydroxylation of the support lattice. We interpret our results as the metal catalyzing reactions that otherwise occur between the reactants and support at higher temperatures.An STM image of the Pt/Fe 3 O 4 (001) model catalyst utilized as the basis for this work is shown in Figure 1. The Fe 3 O 4 (001)-support [4] exhibits large, flat terraces ( Fig. 1, inset) characterized by rows of protrusions related to surface Fe atoms in STM images. The rows rotate by 90° from terrace to terrace, a consequence of the spinel structure. Surface O atoms are not imaged because they have no density of states in the vicinity of the Fermi energy [5] . Surface OH groups, formed through the reaction of water and oxygen vacancies during sample preparation [6] , modify the density of states of the neighboring Fe atoms making them appear brighter in STM images [7] . The sur...