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A brine pool, sometimes called an underwater lake, deepwater or brine lake, is a volume of
brine Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt (NaCl) in water (H2O). In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, on the lower end of that of solutions used for b ...
collected in a seafloor depression. The pools are dense bodies of water that have a salinity that is three to eight times greater than the surrounding ocean. Brine pools are commonly found below polar sea ice and in the deep ocean. Those below sea ice form through a process called
brine rejection Brine rejection is a process that occurs when salty water freezes. The salts do not fit in the crystal structure of water ice, so the salt is expelled. Since the oceans are salty, this process is important in nature. Salt rejected by the forming ...
. For deep-sea brine pools, salt is necessary to increase the salinity gradient. The salt can come from one of two processes: the dissolution of large salt deposits through
salt tectonics upright=1.7 Salt tectonics, or halokinesis, or halotectonics, is concerned with the geometries and processes associated with the presence of significant thicknesses of evaporites containing rock salt within a stratigraphic sequence of rocks. This ...
or geothermally heated brine issued from tectonic spreading centers. The brine often contains high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and methane, which provide energy to
chemosynthetic In biochemistry, chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules (usually carbon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas, hydr ...
organisms that live near the pool. These creatures are often extremophiles and
symbionts Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
. Deep-sea and polar brine pools are toxic to marine animals due to their high salinity and anoxic properties, which can ultimately lead to toxic shock and possibly death. The frequency of brine pool formation coupled with their uniquely high salinity has made them a candidate for research regarding ways to harness their properties to improve human science.


Characteristics

Brine pools are sometimes called sea floor "lakes" because the dense brine does not easily mix with overlying seawater creating a distinct interface between water masses. The pools range in area from less than to as large as the
Orca Basin The Orca Basin is a mid-slope, silled, mini-basin in the northern Gulf of Mexico some 300 km southwest of the Mississippi River mouth on the Louisiana continental slope.Meckler, A. N., et al.''Glacial to Holocene terrigenous organic matter i ...
. The high salinity raises the density of the brine, which creates a surface and shoreline for the pool. Depending on concentration, some minerals such as
baryte Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate ( Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), a ...
(
barium sulfate Barium sulfate (or sulphate) is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ba SO4. It is a white crystalline solid that is odorless and insoluble in water. It occurs as the mineral barite, which is the main commercial source of barium and ...
) precipitate out of the brine and form crystalline crusts around the edge of the pool. Because of the brine's high density and lack of mixing currents in the deep ocean, brine pools often become
anoxic The term anoxia means a total depletion in the level of oxygen, an extreme form of hypoxia or "low oxygen". The terms anoxia and hypoxia are used in various contexts: * Anoxic waters, sea water, fresh water or groundwater that are depleted of diss ...
and deadly to respiring organisms. Brine pools supporting chemosynthetic activity, however, form life on the pool's shores where bacteria and their
symbionts Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
grow near the highest concentrations of nutrient release. Patchy, reddish layers can be observed floating above the dense brine interface due to high densities of halophilic archaea that are supported by these environments. These shores are complex environments with significant shifts in salinity, oxygen concentration, pH, and temperature over a relatively small vertical scale. These transitions provide a variety of environmental niches.


Formation

Brine pools are created through three primary methods: brine rejection below sea ice, dissolution of salts into bottom water through salt-tectonics, and geothermal heating of brine at tectonic boundaries and hot spots. # Brine rejection #* When sea water freezes, salts do not fit into the crystalline structure of ice so the salts are expelled. The expelled salts form a cold, dense, brine that sinks below the sea ice to the sea floor. Brine rejection on an oceanic scale is associated with the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AAW) that play a large role in global
thermohaline circulation Thermohaline circulation (THC) is a part of the large-scale ocean circulation that is driven by global density gradients created by surface heat and freshwater fluxes. The adjective ''thermohaline'' derives from '' thermo-'' referring to tempe ...
(THC). On a localized scale, that rejected brine collects in seafloor depressions forming a brine pool. In the absence of mixing, the brine will become anoxic in a matter of weeks. # Salt tectonics #* During the Middle
Jurassic period The Jurassic ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of ...
, the Gulf of Mexico was a shallow sea that dried out, producing a thick layer of salt and seawater derived minerals up to 8 km thick. When the Gulf refilled with water, the salt layer was preserved from dissolution by sediments accumulating over the salt. Subsequent sedimentation layers became so heavy that they began to deform and move the more malleable salt layer below. In some places, the salt layer now protrudes at or near the seafloor where it can interact with seawater. Where seawater comes in contact with the salt, the deposits dissolve and form brines. The location of these surfacing Jurassic era salt deposits is also associated with methane releases giving deep ocean brine pools their chemical characteristics. # Geothermal heating #* At earth's oceanic tectonic spreading centers, plates are moving apart, allowing new magma to rise and cool. This process is involved in creating new sea floor. These mid-ocean ridges allow seawater to seep downward into fractures where they come in contact with and dissolve minerals. In the Red Sea for example, Red Sea Deep Water (RSDW) seeps into the fissures created at the tectonic boundary. The water dissolves salts from deposits created in the
Miocene epoch The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...
much like the Jurassic period deposits in the Gulf of Mexico. The resulting brine is then superheated in the hydrothermal active zone over the magma chamber. The heated brine rises to the seafloor where it cools and settles in depressions as brine pools. The location of these pools is also associated with methane, hydrogen sulfide, and other chemical releases setting the stage for
chemosynthetic In biochemistry, chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules (usually carbon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas, hydr ...
activity.


Support of life

Due to the methods of their formation and lack of mixing, brine pools are anoxic and deadly to most organisms. When an organism enters a brine pool, they attempt to "breathe" the environment and experience
cerebral hypoxia Cerebral hypoxia is a form of hypoxia (reduced supply of oxygen), specifically involving the brain; when the brain is completely deprived of oxygen, it is called ''cerebral anoxia''. There are four categories of cerebral hypoxia; they are, in o ...
due to the lack of oxygen and toxic shock from the hyper-salinity. If organisms cannot surface long enough to retreat to the rim, they quickly die. When observed by submarines or remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), brine pools are found to be eerily littered with dead fish, crabs,
amphipods Amphipoda is an order of malacostracan crustaceans with no carapace and generally with laterally compressed bodies. Amphipods range in size from and are mostly detritivores or scavengers. There are more than 9,900 amphipod species so far descri ...
, and various organisms that ventured too far into the brine. Dead organisms are then preserved in the brine for years without decay due to the anoxic nature of the pool preventing decay and creating a fish "graveyard." Despite the harsh conditions, life in the form of macrofauna such as
bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, biv ...
can be found in a thin area along the rim of a brine pool. A novel genus and species of bivalves, known as ''Apachecorbula muriatica'', have been found along the edge of the "Valdiva Deep" brine pool in the Red Sea. There have also been recorded instances of macrofauna brine pools at the seawater interface. Inactive sulfur chimneys have been found with affiliated epifauna such as
polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ma ...
s and
hydroids Hydroids are a life stage for most animals of the class Hydrozoa, small predators related to jellyfish. Some hydroids such as the freshwater '' Hydra'' are solitary, with the polyp attached directly to the substrate. When these produce buds ...
. In fauna like gastropods, capitellid polychaetes, and top snails have also been found to be associated with brine pools in the Red Sea. Such species typically feed on microbial symbionts or bacterial and detritus films. While organisms can typically flourish on the outskirts of a brine pool, they are not always safe from harm here. One possible reason for this is that underwater landslides can impact brine pools and cause waves of hypersaline brine to spill out into surrounding basins, thus negatively affecting the biological communities which live there. Despite their inhospitable nature, brine pools can also provide a home, allowing organisms to flourish. Deep-sea brine pools often coincide with
cold seep A cold seep (sometimes called a cold vent) is an area of the ocean floor where hydrogen sulfide, methane and other hydrocarbon-rich fluid seepage occurs, often in the form of a brine pool. ''Cold'' does not mean that the temperature of the see ...
activity allowing for
chemosynthetic In biochemistry, chemosynthesis is the biological conversion of one or more carbon-containing molecules (usually carbon dioxide or methane) and nutrients into organic matter using the oxidation of inorganic compounds (e.g., hydrogen gas, hydr ...
life to thrive. Methane and hydrogen sulfide released by the seep is processed by bacteria, which have a
symbiotic Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasi ...
relationship with organisms such as seep mussels. The seep mussels create two distinct zones. The inner zone, which is at the edge of the pool, provides the best physiological conditions and allows for maximum growth. The outer zone is near the transition between the mussel bed and the surrounding seafloor, and this area provides the worst conditions causing these mussels to have lower maximum sizes and densities. This ecosystem is dependent on
chemical energy Chemical energy is the energy of chemical substances that is released when they undergo a chemical reaction and transform into other substances. Some examples of storage media of chemical energy include batteries, Schmidt-Rohr, K. (2018). "How ...
and, relative to almost all other life on Earth, has no dependence on energy from the
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
.World Wildlife Fund. "Deep sea ecology: hydrothermal vents and cold seeps." March 23, 2006. Accessed October 3, 2007.
/ref> An important part of the study of extreme environments such as brine pools is the function and survival of microbes. Microbes help support the larger biological community around environments like brine pools and are key to understanding the survival of other
extremophile An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme tem ...
s.
Biofilm A biofilm comprises any syntrophic consortium of microorganisms in which cells stick to each other and often also to a surface. These adherent cells become embedded within a slimy extracellular matrix that is composed of extracellular p ...
s contribute to the creation of microbes and are considered the foundation by which other micro-organisms can survive in extreme environments. The research into the growth and function of artificial extremophile biofilms has been slow due to the difficulty in recreating the extreme deep-sea environments they are found in.


Microbial diversity and community composition


Microbial composition


Metagenomics analysis

Metagenomic Metagenomics is the study of genetic material recovered directly from environmental or clinical samples by a method called sequencing. The broad field may also be referred to as environmental genomics, ecogenomics, community genomics or microb ...
analysis is a powerful approach for characterizing microbial communities in a variety of environments. Previously, genetic analysis required having the microorganisms in culture, which is problematic since most microorganisms in nature have not been cultivated. Metagenomics overcomes these problems by allowing researchers to directly sample and analyze and genetically characterize microbial communities sampled from the desired environment. Metagenomic analyses has revealed previously uncharacterized microbial communities in multiple brine pools. Common procedures for characterizing marine microbial communities by metagenomic analysis includes sampling, filtration and extraction, DNA sequencing, and comparison to databases.


Main clades

The taxonomic makeup of the main microbial communities found at Atlantis II and Discovery without including minor or unknown species to avoid ambiguity is summarized in the following list that is based on the data from the primary articles.


Environmental challenges and adaptations

The lack of mixing with the water column in combination with high salinity, anoxia, extremes in water temperature and hydrostatic pressure results in microbial assemblages that are specific to these environments.


Challenges

The high salinity levels present challenges for the retention of water by cells and consequent effects on cell turgor and functioning. Brine pools also exert ionic,
kosmotropic Co-solvents (in water solvent) are defined as kosmotropic (order-making) if they contribute to the stability and structure of water-water interactions. In contrast, chaotropic (disorder-making) agents have the opposite effect, disrupting water str ...
and
chaotropic Chaotropicity describes the entropic disordering of lipid bilayers and other biomacromolecules which is caused by substances dissolved in water. According to the original usage and work carried out on cellular stress mechanisms and responses, chao ...
effects on the cells, which also causes additional challenges for the organisms to survive these extreme environments. In addition, the lack of oxygen increases the difficulty of organisms to yield energy, as oxygen is the most energy-yielding electron acceptor.


Adaptations

Organisms developed different strategies to solve the challenges imposed by high levels of salinity. In order to decrease the risk of chaotropic effects on the cells, halophilic archaea have a "salt-in" approach and "compatible-solute" strategy, which increases intracellular ionic concentration (mostly K+) to decrease the osmotic pressure; Thus, these organisms have adapted their entire metabolic machinery to maintain salt concentration inside of their cells. In some brine pools, high water temperatures and hydrostatic pressures, result in piezophilic microorganisms that synthesize thermoprotective molecules (e.g.
hydroxyketone In organic chemistry a hydroxy ketone (often referred to simply as a ketol) is a functional group consisting of a ketone flanked by a hydroxyl group. In the two main classes, the hydroxyl group can be placed in the alpha position (an alpha-hydroxy ...
) to prevent the denaturation of proteins and decrease the risk of desiccation. Another important adaptation is the use of alternative electron acceptors to yield energy, such as iron, manganese,
sulfate The sulfate or sulphate ion is a polyatomic anion with the empirical formula . Salts, acid derivatives, and peroxides of sulfate are widely used in industry. Sulfates occur widely in everyday life. Sulfates are salts of sulfuric acid and many ...
, elemental sulfur, carbon dioxide,
nitrite The nitrite ion has the chemical formula . Nitrite (mostly sodium nitrite) is widely used throughout chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The nitrite anion is a pervasive intermediate in the nitrogen cycle in nature. The name nitrite also re ...
and
nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are soluble in water. An example of an insolubl ...
,. Animals have also been found living in these
anaerobic Anaerobic means "living, active, occurring, or existing in the absence of free oxygen", as opposed to aerobic which means "living, active, or occurring only in the presence of oxygen." Anaerobic may also refer to: * Anaerobic adhesive, a bonding a ...
brine pools, such as the first known metazoan from these environments described by Danovaro et al. (2010). Many other taxa that from these extreme environments are still uncharacterized.


Nutrient cycling in brine pools


Chemical composition and metabolic significance

As the name suggests, brine pools, or deep hypersaline anoxic basins (DHABs), are characterized by a very high salt concentration and anoxic conditions. Sodium,
chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...
, magnesium, potassium, and
calcium Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar ...
ion concentration are all extremely high in brine pools. And, due to low mixing rates between the above seawater and the brine water, brine-pool water becomes anoxic within the first ten centimeters or so. While there are large variations in the geochemical composition of individual pools, as well as extreme chemical stratification within the same pool, conserved chemical trends are present. Deeper layers of DHABs will be saltier, hotter, more acidic and more anaerobic than the preceding layers. The concentration of
heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals are generally defined as ...
(Fe, Mn, Si, Cu) and certain nutrients (NO2, NH4+, NO3, and PO4) will tend to increase with depth, while the concentration of SO4 and both organic and inorganic carbon decrease with depth. While these trends are all observed to some capacity in DHABs, the intensity and distance over which these trends take effect can vary in depth from one meter, to tens of meters. The heavy stratification within DHABs has led to increased microbial metabolic diversity and varying cell concentrations between layers. The majority of cell biomass has been found at the interfaces between the distinct chemical layers (with the highest concentrations of cells located at the brine-surface interface). Microbes exploit the sharp chemical gradients between the layers to make their metabolisms more thermodynamically favorable. Four heavily studied DHABs are Urania, Bannock, L’Atalante, and Discovery. All four of these brine pools are located in the Mediterranean sea, yet they all exhibit distinct chemical properties: Urania has the highest concentration of sulfuric acid observed (at ~16 mM)--compared to normal sea water (2.6 x 10−6 mM) or the next highest S-in the Bannock basin (~3 mM). Discovery has an extremely low concentration of Na+ (68 mM) and an extremely high concentration of Mg2+ (4995 mM)--compared to the surrounding seawater with concentrations of 528 mM and 60 mM respectively. The L’Atalante basin has a high SO42- concentration compared to the other pools. This extreme variability in environmental conditions leads to each brine pool having a unique metabolic composition.


Main metabolisms and nutrient cycling


Carbon cycling

While it was initially thought that
particulate organic matter Particulate organic matter (POM) is a fraction of total organic matter operationally defined as that which does not pass through a filter pore size that typically ranges in size from 0.053 to 2 millimeters. Particulate organic carbon (POC) is ...
(POM) was an important source of carbon for DHABs, due to their depth the concentration of POM reaching the pools it is not significant as originally thought. The majority of fixed carbon is now thought to come from autotrophy, specifically
methanogenesis Methanogenesis or biomethanation is the formation of methane coupled to energy conservation by microbes known as methanogens. Organisms capable of producing methane for energy conservation have been identified only from the domain Archaea, a group ...
. Direct measurements of methane production in DHABs have provided extensive molecular evidence of methanogenesis in these environments. Proteomic analysis further support the presence of methanogenesis by identifying the enzyme RuBisCo in various DHABs. Interestingly, it has been suggested that instead of or acetoclastic methanogenesis, prokaryotes in DHABs use methylotrophic methanogenesis as it allows for a higher energy yield and the intermediates can be used for
osmoprotectant Osmoprotectants or compatible solutes are small organic molecules with neutral charge and low toxicity at high concentrations that act as osmolytes and help organisms survive extreme osmotic stress. Osmoprotectants can be placed in three chemical c ...
s.


Nitrogen cycling

One of the key metabolic features of DHABs is the dissimilatory reduction of nitrogen. This is predominantly due to the thermodynamic favorability of nitrogen based metabolisms in anaerobic environments. In Bannock basin and L’Atalante basin
anammox Anammox, an abbreviation for anaerobic ammonium oxidation, is a globally important microbial process of the nitrogen cycle that takes place in many natural environments. The bacteria mediating this process were identified in 1999, and were a gre ...
and
denitrification Denitrification is a microbially facilitated process where nitrate (NO3−) is reduced and ultimately produces molecular nitrogen (N2) through a series of intermediate gaseous nitrogen oxide products. Facultative anaerobic bacteria perform denit ...
pathways have been identified using a combination of transcriptomics and direct isotope tracking. Other DHABs have been analyzed for anammox pathways using metatranscriptomic techniques with little positive results, which may be due to the limitations of transcriptomic sensitivity. In deeper DHAB layers, nitrogen fixation and ammonium assimilation has been observed. These reductive pathways require a lot of energy and are mainly performed by methanogens to synthesize osmoprotectants.


Sulfur cycling

Due to the high concentration of sulfate (especially in the Uranian Basin), sulfate reduction is extremely important in the
biogeochemical cycling A biogeochemical cycle (or more generally a cycle of matter) is the pathway by which a chemical substance cycles (is turned over or moves through) the biotic and the abiotic compartments of Earth. The biotic compartment is the biosphere and th ...
of DHABs. The highest rates of sulfate reduction tend to be found in the deepest DHAB layers, where redox potential is lowest. Sulfate reducing bacteria have been found in the brines of Kebrit deep, Nereus Deep, Erba deep, Atlantis II deep, and Discovery Deep. Oxidative sulfur pathways help close the biogeochemical sulfur loops within the DHABs. There are three main sulfur oxidizing pathways which are likely found in DHABs: 1) sulfur-oxidizing multienzyme complex which can oxidize sulfide or thiosulfate to sulfate (w/ elemental sulfur or sulfite as an intermediate). 2) a sulfide/quinone complex which oxidizes hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur. 3) polysulfide reductase, which reduces precipitate sulfur to sulfide. A combination between the second and third pathway would allow for increased energetic yield. In addition, some novel groups have been isolated from
saline lakes Saline may refer to: * Saline (medicine), a liquid with salt content to match the human body * Saline water, non-medicinal salt water * Saline, a historical term (especially US) for a salt works or saltern Places * Saline, Calvados, a commune in ...
which can anaerobically respire sulfur using
acetate An acetate is a salt formed by the combination of acetic acid with a base (e.g. alkaline, earthy, metallic, nonmetallic or radical base). "Acetate" also describes the conjugate base or ion (specifically, the negatively charged ion called an ...
, pyruvate, formate, or hydrogen as a sole
electron donor In chemistry, an electron donor is a chemical entity that donates electrons to another compound. It is a reducing agent that, by virtue of its donating electrons, is itself oxidized in the process. Typical reducing agents undergo permanent chemi ...
s.


Microbial symbiosis

There is a high concentration of bacteria present in brine pools that serve essential roles for the ecosystem, such as being part of symbiotic relationships or acting as a food source for several organisms in this habitat. Examples include tubeworms and
clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two she ...
s having a symbiotic relationship with many of these bacteria to convert chemical energy from hydrogen sulfide, and in exchange providing them food to allow reproduction and development; or mussels providing a safe habitat for bacteria that feed on methane while thriving due to the chemosynthetic, carbon-fixing
symbionts Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
that are inhabiting their gill tissues. Thus, these symbiotic relationships with bacteria allow organisms to be abundant and have high biomass in these harsher environments. Bacteria can also act as epibiotic symbiont, which were found to play an important role in the adaptations of microorganisms to these environments, such as organisms from the flagellated group
Euglenozoa Euglenozoa are a large group of flagellate Discoba. They include a variety of common free-living species, as well as a few important parasites, some of which infect humans. Euglenozoa are represented by three major clades, i.e., Kinetoplastea, D ...
that have been thriving in brine pools due to this relationship.


Examples

*Afifi *Atlantis II *Conrad *Discovery *Kebrit *Kryos * L'Atalante basin *
Orca Basin The Orca Basin is a mid-slope, silled, mini-basin in the northern Gulf of Mexico some 300 km southwest of the Mississippi River mouth on the Louisiana continental slope.Meckler, A. N., et al.''Glacial to Holocene terrigenous organic matter i ...
*Shaban


Future uses

One major idea involves harnessing the salinity of brine pools to use as a power source. This would be done using an osmotic engine which draws the high salinity top water through the engine and pushes it down due to
osmotic pressure Osmotic pressure is the minimum pressure which needs to be applied to a solution to prevent the inward flow of its pure solvent across a semipermeable membrane. It is also defined as the measure of the tendency of a solution to take in a pure ...
. This would cause the brackish stream (which is less dense and has a lighter salinity) to be propelled away from the engine via buoyancy. The energy created by this exchange can be harnessed using a turbine to create a power output. It is possible to study liquid brine in order to harness its electrical conductivity to study if liquid water is present on Mars. A HABIT (Habitability: Brines, Irradiation, and Temperature) instrument will be part of a 2020 campaign to monitor changing conditions on Mars. This device will include a BOTTLE (Brine Observation Transition to Liquid Experiment) experiment to quantify the formation of transient liquid brine as well as observe its stability over time under non-equilibrium conditions. A third idea involves using microorganisms in deep-sea brine pools to form natural product drugs. These microorganisms are important sources of bioactive molecules against various diseases due to the extreme environment they inhabit, giving potential to an increasing number of drugs in clinical trials. In particular, a novel finding in a study used microorganisms from the Red Sea brine pools as potential anticancer drugs. Deep sea brine pools have also been a large interest in
bioprospecting Bioprospecting (also known as biodiversity prospecting) is the exploration of natural sources for small molecules, macromolecules and biochemical and genetic information that could be developed into commercially valuable products for the agri ...
in the hope that unlikely environments might serve as sources of biomedical breakthroughs due to unexplored biodiversity. Some areas have been found to host antibacterial and anticancer activities in biosynthetic clusters. Other novel antibiotic resistance enzymes have been found that are useful in various biomedical and industrial applications.


References


Further reading

* Boetius, A.; Joye, S. (2009-06-18). "Thriving in Salt". ''Science''. 324 (5934): 1523–1525. doi:10.1126/science.1172979. ISSN 0036-8075. *Eder, W., Jahnke, L. L., Schmidt, M., & Huber, R. (2001)
Microbial Diversity of the Brine-Seawater Interface of the Kebrit Deep, Red Sea, Studied via 16S rRNA Gene Sequences and Cultivation Methods.
''Applied and Environmental Microbiology,'' ''67''(7), 3077–3085. doi:10.1128/aem.67.7.3077-3085.2001 *Guan, Y., Hikmawan, T., Antunes, A., Ngugi, D., & Stingl, U. (2015)
Diversity of methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria in the interfaces of five deep-sea anoxic brines of the Red Sea.
''Research in Microbiology,'' ''166''(9), 688–699. doi:10.1016/j.resmic.2015.07.002 *Hartmann, M., Scholten, J., Stoffers, P., & Wehner, F. (1998). Hydrographic structure of brine-filled deeps in the Red Sea—new results from the Shaban, Kebrit, Atlantis II, and Discovery Deep. ''Marine Geology,'' ''144''(4), 311–330. doi:10.1016/s0025-3227(97)00055-8 *Patowary, K. (2018, November 7). Brine Pools: The Underwater Lakes of Despair. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/11/brine-pools-lakes-under-ocean.html * US Department of Commerce, N. (n.d.). Gulf of Mexico 2002. Retrieved October 28, 2020, from https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/welcome.html *Wankel, S. D., Joye, S. B., Samarkin, V. A., Shah, S. R., Friederich, G., Melas-Kyriazi, J., & Girguis, P. R. (2010)
New constraints on methane fluxes and rates of anaerobic methane oxidation in a Gulf of Mexico brine pool via in situ mass spectrometry.
''Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography,'' ''57''(21-23), 2022–2029. doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Brine Pool Bodies of water Coastal and oceanic landforms