ALBERT

Description: We have measured microbial sulfate reduction rates by ultra sensitive radio tracer incubations in fluids from 11 wells of the actively serpentinizing the Coast Range ophiolite (CA, USA) and Samail ophiolite (Oman). We also determined environmental parameter of the serpentinizing fluids (pH, redox potential and chloride, sulfate, hydrogen, methane and organic acid conentrations. We also determiend the abundance of sulfate reducing taxa in the these fluids.

Description: Author Posting. © National Academy of Sciences, 2006. This article is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (2006): 6448-6453, doi:10.1073/pnas.0600830103.

Description: Submersible exploration of the Samoan hotspot revealed a new, 300-m-tall, volcanic cone, named Nafanua, in the summit crater of Vailulu'u seamount. Nafanua grew from the 1,000-m-deep crater floor in 〈4 years and could reach the sea surface within decades. Vents fill Vailulu'u crater with a thick suspension of particulates and apparently toxic fluids that mix with seawater entering from the crater breaches. Low-temperature vents form Fe oxide chimneys in many locations and up to 1-m-thick layers of hydrothermal Fe floc on Nafanua. High-temperature (81°C) hydrothermal vents in the northern moat (945-m water depth) produce acidic fluids (pH 2.7) with rising droplets of (probably) liquid CO2. The Nafanua summit vent area is inhabited by a thriving population of eels (Dysommina rugosa) that feed on midwater shrimp probably concentrated by anticyclonic currents at the volcano summit and rim. The moat and crater floor around the new volcano are littered with dead metazoans that apparently died from exposure to hydrothermal emissions. Acid-tolerant polychaetes (Polynoidae) live in this environment, apparently feeding on bacteria from decaying fish carcasses. Vailulu'u is an unpredictable and very active underwater volcano presenting a potential long-term volcanic hazard. Although eels thrive in hydrothermal vents at the summit of Nafanua, venting elsewhere in the crater causes mass mortality. Paradoxically, the same anticyclonic currents that deliver food to the eels may also concentrate a wide variety of nektonic animals in a death trap of toxic hydrothermal fluids.

Description: This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Oceans Exploration and the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory–NOAA Undersea Research Program, the National Science Foundation, the Australian Research Council, and the SERPENT program.

Description: © The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Hand, K., Phillips, C., Murray, A., Garvin, J., Maize, E., Gibbs, R., Reeves, G., San Martin, A., Tan-Wang, G., Krajewski, J., Hurst, K., Crum, R., Kennedy, B., McElrath, T., Gallon, J., Sabahi, D., Thurman, S., Goldstein, B., Estabrook, P., Lee, S. W., Dooley, J. A., Brinckerhoff, W. B., Edgett, K. S., German, C. R., Hoehler, T. M., Hörst, S. M., Lunine, J. I., Paranicas, C., Nealson, K., Smith, D. E., Templeton, A. S., Russell, M. J., Schmidt, B., Christner, B., Ehlmann, B., Hayes, A., Rhoden, A., Willis, P., Yingst, R. A., Craft, K., Cameron, M. E., Nordheim, T., Pitesky, J., Scully, J., Hofgartner, J., Sell, S. W., Barltrop, K. J., Izraelevitz, J., Brandon, E. J., Seong, J., Jones, J.-P., Pasalic, J., Billings, K. J., Ruiz, J. P., Bugga, R. V., Graham, D., Arenas, L. A., Takeyama, D., Drummond, M., Aghazarian, H., Andersen, A. J., Andersen, K. B., Anderson, E. W., Babuscia, A., Backes, P. G., Bailey, E. S., Balentine, D., Ballard, C. G., Berisford, D. F., Bhandari, P., Blackwood, K., Bolotin, G. S., Bovre, E. A., Bowkett, J., Boykins, K. T., Bramble, M. S., Brice, T. M., Briggs, P., Brinkman, A. P., Brooks, S. M., Buffington, B. B., Burns, B., Cable, M. L., Campagnola, S., Cangahuala, L. A., Carr, G. A., Casani, J. R., Chahat, N. E., Chamberlain-Simon, B. K., Cheng, Y., Chien, S. A., Cook, B. T., Cooper, M., DiNicola, M., Clement, B., Dean, Z., Cullimore, E. A., Curtis, A. G., Croix, J-P. de la, Pasquale, P. Di, Dodd, E. M., Dubord, L. A., Edlund, J. A., Ellyin, R., Emanuel, B., Foster, J. T., Ganino, A. J., Garner, G. J., Gibson, M. T., Gildner, M., Glazebrook, K. J., Greco, M. E., Green, W. M., Hatch, S. J., Hetzel, M. M., Hoey, W. A., Hofmann, A. E., Ionasescu, R., Jain, A., Jasper, J. D., Johannesen, J. R., Johnson, G. K., Jun, I., Katake, A. B., Kim-Castet, S. Y., Kim, D. I., Kim, W., Klonicki, E. F., Kobeissi, B., Kobie, B. D., Kochocki, J., Kokorowski, M., Kosberg, J. A., Kriechbaum, K., Kulkarni, T. P., Lam, R. L., Landau, D. F., Lattimore, M. A., Laubach, S. L., Lawler, C. R., Lim, G., Lin, J. Y., Litwin, T. E., Lo, M. W., Logan, C. A., Maghasoudi, E., Mandrake, L., Marchetti, Y., Marteau, E., Maxwell, K. A., Namee, J. B. Mc, Mcintyre, O., Meacham, M., Melko, J. P., Mueller, J., Muliere, D. A., Mysore, A., Nash, J., Ono, H., Parker, J. M., Perkins, R. C., Petropoulos, A. E., Gaut, A., Gomez, M. Y. Piette, Casillas, R. P., Preudhomme, M., Pyrzak, G., Rapinchuk, J., Ratliff, J. M., Ray, T. L., Roberts, E. T., Roffo, K., Roth, D. C., Russino, J. A., Schmidt, T. M., Schoppers, M. J., Senent, J. S., Serricchio, F., Sheldon, D. J., Shiraishi, L. R., Shirvanian, J., Siegel, K. J., Singh, G., Sirota, A. R., Skulsky, E. D., Stehly, J. S., Strange, N. J., Stevens, S. U., Sunada, E. T., Tepsuporn, S. P., Tosi, L. P. C., Trawny, N., Uchenik, I., Verma, V., Volpe, R. A., Wagner, C. T., Wang, D., Willson, R. G., Wolff, J. L., Wong, A. T., Zimmer, A. K., Sukhatme, K. G., Bago, K. A., Chen, Y., Deardorff, A. M., Kuch, R. S., Lim, C., Syvertson, M. L., Arakaki, G. A., Avila, A., DeBruin, K. J., Frick, A., Harris, J. R., Heverly, M. C., Kawata, J. M., Kim, S.-K., Kipp, D. M., Murphy, J., Smith, M. W., Spaulding, M. D., Thakker, R., Warner, N. Z., Yahnker, C. R., Young, M. E., Magner, T., Adams, D., Bedini, P., Mehr, L., Sheldon, C., Vernon, S., Bailey, V., Briere, M., Butler, M., Davis, A., Ensor, S., Gannon, M., Haapala-Chalk, A., Hartka, T., Holdridge, M., Hong, A., Hunt, J., Iskow, J., Kahler, F., Murray, K., Napolillo, D., Norkus, M., Pfisterer, R., Porter, J., Roth, D., Schwartz, P., Wolfarth, L., Cardiff, E. H., Davis, A., Grob, E. W., Adam, J. R., Betts, E., Norwood, J., Heller, M. M., Voskuilen, T., Sakievich, P., Gray, L., Hansen, D. J., Irick, K. W., Hewson, J. C., Lamb, J., Stacy, S. C., Brotherton, C. M., Tappan, A. S., Benally, D., Thigpen, H., Ortiz, E., Sandoval, D., Ison, A. M., Warren, M., Stromberg, P. G., Thelen, P. M., Blasy, B., Nandy, P., Haddad, A. W., Trujillo, L. B., Wiseley, T. H., Bell, S. A., Teske, N. P., Post, C., Torres-Castro, L., Grosso, C. Wasiolek, M. Science goals and mission architecture of the Europa Lander mission concept. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(1), (2022): 22, https://doi.org/10.3847/psj/ac4493.

Description: Europa is a premier target for advancing both planetary science and astrobiology, as well as for opening a new window into the burgeoning field of comparative oceanography. The potentially habitable subsurface ocean of Europa may harbor life, and the globally young and comparatively thin ice shell of Europa may contain biosignatures that are readily accessible to a surface lander. Europa's icy shell also offers the opportunity to study tectonics and geologic cycles across a range of mechanisms and compositions. Here we detail the goals and mission architecture of the Europa Lander mission concept, as developed from 2015 through 2020. The science was developed by the 2016 Europa Lander Science Definition Team (SDT), and the mission architecture was developed by the preproject engineering team, in close collaboration with the SDT. In 2017 and 2018, the mission concept passed its mission concept review and delta-mission concept review, respectively. Since that time, the preproject has been advancing the technologies, and developing the hardware and software, needed to retire risks associated with technology, science, cost, and schedule.

Description: K.P.H., C.B.P., E.M., and all authors affiliated with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory carried out this research at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (grant No. 80NM0018D0004). J.I.L. was the David Baltimore Distinguished Visiting Scientist during the preparation of the SDT report. JPL/Caltech2021.

Description: © The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in McCollom, T. M., Klein, F., Moskowitz, B., Berquo, T. S., Bach, W., & Templeton, A. S. Hydrogen generation and iron partitioning during experimental serpentinization of an olivine-pyroxene mixture. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 282, (2020): 55-75, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2020.05.016.

Description: A series of laboratory experiments was conducted to investigate serpentinization of olivine–pyroxene mixtures at 230 °C, with the objective of evaluating the effect of mixed compositions on Fe partitioning among product minerals, H2 generation, and reaction rates. An initial experiment reacted a mixture of 86 wt.% olivine and 14 wt.% orthopyroxene (Opx) with the same initial grain size for 387 days. The experiment resulted in extensive reaction (∼53% conversion), and solids recovered at termination of the experiment were dominated by Fe-bearing chrysotile and relict olivine along with minor brucite and magnetite. Only limited amounts of H2 were generated during the first ∼100 days of the experiment, but the rate of H2 generation then increased sharply coincident with an increase in pH from mildly alkaline to strongly alkaline conditions. Two shorter term experiments with the same reactants (26 and 113 days) produced a mixture of lizardite and talc that formed a thin coating on relict olivine and Opx grains, with virtually no generation of H2. Comparison of the results with reaction path models indicates that the Opx reacted about two times faster than olivine, which contrasts with some previous studies that suggested olivine should react more rapidly than Opx at the experimental conditions. The models also indicate that the long-term experiment transitioned from producing serpentine ± talc early in the early stages to precipitation of serpentine plus magnetite, with brucite beginning to precipitate only late in the experiment as Opx was depleted. The results indicate that overall reaction of olivine and Opx was initially relatively slow, but reaction rates accelerated substantially when the pH transitioned to strongly alkaline conditions. Serpentine and brucite precipitated from the olivine-Opx mixture had higher Fe contents than observed in olivine-only experiments at mildly alkaline pH, but had comparable Fe contents to reaction of olivine at strongly alkaline pH implying that higher pH may favor greater partitioning of Fe into serpentine and brucite and less into magnetite. Despite the presence of brucite, dissolved silica activities during the long-term olivine-Opx experiment maintained levels well above serpentine-brucite equilibrium. Instead, silica activities converged on levels close to metastable equilibrium between brucite and olivine. It is proposed that silica levels during the experiment may have been regulated by exchange of SiO2 between the fluid and a silica-depleted, brucite-like surface layer on dissolving olivine.

Description: This research was supported by the U. S. National Science Foundation Marine Geology and Geophysics program through grant NSF-OCE 0927744 and by the NASA Astrobiology Institute through Cooperative Agreement NNA15BB02A. Additional support to TMM from the Hanse Wissenschaftskolleg (Delmenhorst, Germany) at an early stage of this project is gratefully acknowledged. FK acknowledges support through Grant NSF-OCE 1427274. The IRM is supported by the Instruments and Facilities Program of the NSF Division of Earth Science. This is IRM contribution 1711. We very much appreciate the comments of Fabrice Brunet, Gleb Pokrovski and an anonymous reviewer that helped us refine our interpretations and improve communication of the results.

Description: The rapid redox cycling of iron is one of the most pervasive geochemical processes catalyzed by microbial organisms. Numerous microbial metabolisms rely on transferring electrons to and from iron, even in "extreme" environments considered challenging for life due to high acidity, high alkalinity, high temperature, low organic content, or low water abundance. Recent efforts to explore the iron biogeochemistry of extreme systems, such as hydrothermal vents, seafloor basalts, serpentinizing systems, and acid mine drainage, have significantly expanded our expectations regarding the distribution and activity of iron-dependent life on Earth, and potentially other iron-rich silicate planets, such as Mars.

Description: Banded iron formations (BIFs) represent chemical precipitation from Earth's early oceans and therefore contain insights into ancient marine biogeochemistry. However, BIFs have undergone multiple episodes of alteration, making it difficult to assess the primary mineral assemblage. Nanoscale mineral inclusions from 2.5 billion year old BIFs and ferruginous cherts provide new evidence that iron silicates were primary minerals deposited from the Neoarchean ocean, contrasting sharply with current models for BIF inception. Here we used multiscale imaging and spectroscopic techniques to characterize the best preserved examples of these inclusions. Our integrated results demonstrate that these early minerals were low-Fe(III) greenalite. We present potential pathways in which low-Fe(III) greenalite could have formed through changes in saturation state and/or iron oxidation and reduction. Future constraints for ancient ocean chemistry and early life's activities should include low-Fe(III) greenalite as a primary mineral in the Neoarchean ocean. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.