What is it about?
If we consider the sea water as a neglected colloid, there is a critical micella concentration (CMC) when it coagulates and flocculates, generating a semipermeable membrane. Due to the water column weight the through this membrane the reverse osmosis will work, i.e. the fresh water will come out and the ions will concentrate underneath (this membrane). In our view this is the origin of the Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins/Lakes. This viscous liquid is as the non-Newtonian fluids. supports the sediments. In these lakes - found all over the world oceans - the bacteria produces methane, which can be a secondary methane source in the sedimentary basins. We are convinced that this phenomenon could happen in the geological past too. This buried brines (DHABs) with considerable methane content, can loose the equilibrium due to the earthquakes when the seismic energy breaches up the over pressured non-Newtonian fluid, penetrating the covering sediment sequence. On the bubble point the gas separates and releases from the elevated brine in the nearby reservoirs. This volume loss consequence is a volume decrease of the brine and this is the point when the salt crystalizes forming the the well known salt diapirs. In our view this is a new type of diapir generation.
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Why is it important?
All salt basins need revision, whether the salt is evaporite or deep sea salt .
Perspectives
On industrial side: new biogenic methane resources can be discovered. Theoretically: 1. the natural reverse osmosis is found in the nature (until nowadays this is an artificial filtering method); 2. new type of methane and salt diapir generation is described, 3. new basin modelling ideas can be developed;
Dr. habil Zoltan Unger
ELTE University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Salt and Methane Generation Initiated by Membrane Polarisation, Earth Sciences, January 2018, Science Publishing Group,
DOI: 10.11648/j.earth.20180702.12.
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