What is it about?
It is surprising to encounter perpetual salt springs in the high Arctic where the soil is frozen to a 600 m depth and water is spewed at 6°C even during the coldest winter. They are located adjoining salt and gypsum domes and support bacterial activity. They were interpreted as recent phenomena related to melting glaciers, but our new data indicates they had high-temperature precursors and may have been active for millions of years
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Why is it important?
The presence of these perennial springs reflects the superior capacity of salt to transmit the heat of the Earth and as such may have a potential to provide geothermal heat, for instance to Arctic scientific stations like the McGill Arctic Research Station in Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut. These isolated columns of water sustaining bacterial life for millions of years may be analogs of sites where to look for life in other planets.
Perspectives
This study that involved different disciplines demonstrates the value of collaborative research
Dr. Marcos Zentilli
Dalhousie University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Paleo-Hydrothermal Predecessor to Perennial Spring Activity in Thick Permafrost in the Canadian High Arctic, and Its Relation to Deep Salt Structures: Expedition Fiord, Axel Heiberg Island, Nunavut, Geofluids, June 2019, Hindawi Publishing Corporation,
DOI: 10.1155/2019/9502904.
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