Underwater volcanic brine pools could be home to extreme life forms
Animals found near the Mabahiss Mons volcano in the Red Sea, including amphipods and polychaete worms
Dr Katrin Linse
Super-salon-rich submarine lakes rich in carbon dioxide could accommodate extreme life forms unlike others on earth.
Water rich in salt and other minerals flows to the bottom of the ocean because of its density and, if it reaches depression in the seabed, can accumulate in a liquid lake distinct from water above. These brine basins have been found in many oceans, and their unique chemical composition – low in oxygen and rich in certain minerals – in fact places where extreme microorganisms can evolve and prosper.
Now, Froukje van der Zwan at King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology in Saudi Arabia and his colleagues have discovered a new type of brine that is warm, rich in carbon dioxide and seems to be fueled by underwater volcanoes.
During a recent expedition to two submarine volcanoes in the Red Sea, Mons Hatiba and Mabahiss Mons, Van der Zwan and his colleagues found several salum pools near the top of the volcanoes, more than a kilometer above the surrounding sea soil and 5 kilometers from any minor deposit which was able to increase the salinity of the water. They also found areas nearby with several hydrothermal vents that released water -rich water at around 60 ° C (140 ° F).
Sampling using robotic vehicles has shown that swimming pools were warmer than surrounding water and had high levels of metallic elements such as zinc and manganese.
They were also rich in gas found in hydrothermal vents. “They are relatively high in CO2 as well as methane … but unlike other hydrothermal vents, where fluids really enter seawater, they keep brine here, so maybe it’s a kind of well for these gases,” Van der Zwan told the Goldschmidt Geochimistry conference in Prague, Czech Republic, July 8.
Researchers are currently analyzing microbial samples taken from swimming pools, to see how life forms could be adapted to the extreme environment. In the hydrothermal vents nearby, they found thick carpets containing much larger microbes than all the others known in marine environments, as well as polychaete worms and amphipods.
Life in savory swimming pools can provide clues to the way life could develop in extreme extraterrestrial environments, as in the salty ocean, rich in iron from the Europa Moon of Jupiter. There, the ocean is trapped under a thick crust of ice, but if there is a hydrothermal activity below, it could present a scenario similar to the pool of brine rich in iron that Van der Zwan and his team found.
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