The discovery of Lake Hephaestus, the youngest athalassohaline deep-sea formation on Earth.

ABSTRACT: Hydrated, magnesium-rich minerals and subglacial brines exist on the martian surface, so the habitability of high-Mg²⁺ environments on Earth has extraterrestrial (as well as terrestrial) implications. Here, we report the discovery of a MgCl₂-dominated (4.72 M) brine lake on the floor of the Mediterranean Ridge that underlies a 3500-m water column, and name it Lake Hephaestus. Stable isotope analyses indicated that the Hephaestus brine is derived from interactions between ancient bishofite-enriched evaporites and subsurface fluids. Analyses of sediment pore waters indicated that the Hephaestus depression had contained the MgCl₂ brine for a remarkably short period; only 700 years. Lake Hephaestus is, therefore, the youngest among currently known submarine ath

SUBMITTER: La Cono V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6368551 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature