Brine pools in the Gulf of America: A review

Sedimentary porewaters record regional tectonic and climate events that perturbed a deep-sea brine pool in the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea

Deep-sea biogeochemical cycles are, in general, poorly understood owing to the difficulties of making measurements in situ, recovering samples with minimal perturbation, and, in many cases, coping with high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. In particular, biogeochemical fluxes of volatiles such as methane remain largely unconstrained because of the difficulties with accurate quantification in situ and the patchiness of point sources such as seeps and brine pools. To better constrain biogeochemical fluxes and cycling, we have developed a deep-sea in situ mass spectrometer (ISMS) to enable high-resolution quantification of volatiles in situ. Here we report direct measurements of methane concentrations made in a Gulf of Mexico brine pool located at a depth of over 2300m. Concentrations of up to 33mM methane were observed within the brine pool, whereas concentrations in the water directly above were three orders of magnitude lower. These direct measurements enabled us to make the first accurate estimates of the diffusive flux from a brine pool, calculated to be 1.1±0.2molm−2yr−1. Integrated rate measurements of aerobic methane oxidation in the water column overlying the brine pool were ∼320μmolm−2yr−1, accounting at most for just 0.03% of the diffusive methane flux from the brine pool. Calculated rates of anaerobic methane oxidation were 600–1200μMyr−1, one to two orders of magnitude higher than previously published values of AOM in anoxic fluids. These findings suggest that brine pools are enormous point sources of methane in the deep sea, and may, in aggregate, have a pronounced impact on the global marine methane cycle.

Subsea hypersaline anoxic brine pools are among the most extreme habitable environments on Earth that offer clues to life on other planets. Brine is toxic to macrofauna as remotely operated vehicles commonly observe dead and preserved remains in brine pools. While brine pools are often assumed to be stable stratified systems, we show that underwater landslides can cause significant disturbances. Moreover, landslides create large-amplitude waves upon impact with the brine pool, similar to tsunami waves. We focus on the Orca Basin brine pool in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which contains numerous landslide deposits and blocks that originated from scarps several hundred meters above the brine pool. The impact of massive fast-moving landslides generated waves with amplitude on the order of 100 s of meters, which rival the largest known ocean waves. Brine waves can negatively affect biological communities and potentially overspill to spread hypersaline brine into surrounding basins.

New fluid inclusion data from the stockwork veins beneath the Hellyer orebody, a relatively undeformed, Late Cambrian polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit, allow semiquantitative modeling of the behavior of the ore fluids on the sea floor and the manner of growth of the massive sulfide. The earliest cool fluids may have been denser than seawater and ponded in a basin identified by sedimentological and structural studies. Subsequent vent fluids, buoyant with respect to the brine pool and subsequently at higher temperature with respect to seawater, mixed with the cooler brine. During and after filling the basin to the level of its lowest outlet, density inhomogeneities within the brine pool were reduced by double-diffusive convection across the brine-seawater interface and internal boundaries, and mixing by currents within the brine pool. Estimates of likely temperatures and salinities in the brine pool for the first main mineralization stage (avg 200°C, 11 wt % salinity), assuming a steady or quasisteady state, had been established, and using volume fluxes similar to those observed in modern oceans, indicate temperatures ≪100°C. Sulfides (mostly pyrite, sphalerite, and galena) precipitated from the vent fluids after mixing with cooler basin fluid settled from the gravity current to the basin floor, a pattern that would have continued whether or not a true steady state was reached. If the early fluids were buoyant in seawater they ponded after mixing, forming a hybrid brine pool that would have required longer periods to homogenize. At the peak temperature (≥300°C) and volume flux the salinity of the vent fluids fell to <7.5 wt percent, but the flow paths would have been maintained unless the brine pool had been drained. At this time that part of the massive sulfide body over the vent (the Cu core) grew by dilatational veining together with leaching, cavity infilling, replacement, and recrystallization. Chalcopyrite was deposited both in the Cu core and probably at the same time in a layer over the flanking massive sulfide. In the final stage as temperature fell and salinity rose (avg 250°C, 11 wt % salinity), the fluid oxidation potential increased so that barite precipitation dominated, resulting in a formation of a discontinuous barite-rich cap over the massive sulfide. The brine pool model explains several features of the Hellyer ore that differ from those of the ores of the Hokuroko basin, namely, the large metal content, high Zn/Cu ratio, low aspect ratio, absence of chimney fragments, presence of mineral banding, and high barite sulfur isotope values, features seen in many other massive sulfide orebodies.

The eventual loss of the Retsof Salt Mine from flooding was initiated on March 12, 1994 with a magnitude 3.6 earthquake, the collapse of a small-pillar panel, an initial inrush of brine and gas to the mine and a sustained inflow of fresh water. An examination of closure data for two mine panels involved in the inflow suggested an anomalous buildup of fluid pressure above the panels in the period leading up to their collapse. The initial brine and gas inflow immediately following the collapse coincided with the apparent relief of the excess pressure. The potential existence of a pre-collapse, pressurized, brine and gas pool above the panels was investigated through an analysis of nineteenth century solution mining data, a review of recent salt mine data, and an interpretation of geologic and geophysical data from post-collapse investigations. Published reports from the nineteenth century reveal that natural brine and gas pools existed in the region prior to mining. Correlation of gamma ray logs with geologic logs from contemporary drill holes and core holes provided a mechanism for interpreting the distribution of those natural brine pools. Our investigation indicated that natural gas and brine pools existed within Unit D of the Syracuse Formation approximately 160 ft above the mining horizon. Such brine accumulation apparently formed from the circulation of meteoric water through vertical discontinuities that were connected to overlying fresh water aquifers long before mining began in the valley in the late nineteenth century.

Hydrothermal ecosystems have a wide distribution on Earth and many can be found in the basin of the Red Sea. Production of aromatic compounds occurs in a temperature window of ∼60-150 °C by utilizing organic debris. In the past 50 years, the temperature of the Atlantis II Deep brine pool in the Red Sea has increased from 56 to 68 °C, whereas the temperature at the nearby Discovery Deep brine pool has remained relatively stable at about 44 °C. In this report, we confirmed the presence of aromatic compounds in the Atlantis II brine pool as expected. The presence of the aromatic compounds might have disturbed the microbes in the Atlantis II. To show shifted microbial communities and their metabolisms, we sequenced the metagenomes of the microbes from both brine pools. Classification based on metareads and the 16S rRNA gene sequences from clones showed a strong divergence of dominant bacterial species between the pools. Bacteria capable of aromatic degradation were present in the Atlantis II brine pool. A comparison of the metabolic pathways showed that several aromatic degradation pathways were significantly enriched in the Atlantis II brine pool, suggesting the presence of aromatic compounds. Pathways utilizing metabolites derived from aromatic degradation were also significantly affected. In the Discovery brine pool, the most abundant genes from the microbes were related to sugar metabolism pathways and DNA synthesis and repair, suggesting a different strategy for the utilization of carbon and energy sources between the Discovery brine pool and the Atlantis II brine pool.

Deep-sea brine pools represent hypersaline environments famed for their extremophile microbes. With anoxia entirely excluding bioturbating megafauna, brine pools are also conducive to the pristine preservation of sedimentary sequences. Here we use bathymetric and geophysical observations to locate a complex of brine pools in the Gulf of Aqaba consisting of one 10,000 m2 pool and three minor pools of less than 10 m2. We further conduct sediment coring and direct sampling of the brine to confirm the sedimentary and environmental characteristics of these pools. We find that the main pool preserves a stratigraphy which spans at least 1200 years and contains a combination of turbidites, likely resulting from flashfloods and local seismicity, and tsunamigenic terrestrial sediment. The NEOM Brine Pools, as we name them, extend the known geographical range of Red Sea brine pools, and represent a unique preservational environment for the sedimentary signals of regional climatic and tectonic events.

Deep-sea anoxic brine pools are unique and extreme, yet habitable environments. However, their extent and processes of formation are not fully understood. Using geophysical analysis and seafloor surveying, we discovered the eastmost brine pools known in the ultraoligotrophic Eastern Mediterranean Sea, at the Palmahim Disturbance offshore Israel (~1150 m water depth). These brine pools are located directly above a ~1km wide piece of the Messinian evaporites section, which was up thrusted to ~350 m below the seafloor. We sampled brines and short cores to characterize the chemical composition of several small (up to 5m diameter) anoxic, methanic and warm (21.6°C) brine pools and adjacent seafloor sediments porewater. The maximal salinities measured at the pools and adjacent porewater were 63.9 and 72 PSU, respectively. The brines are characterized by enriched Na and Cl concentrations by a factor of ~1.8 and depleted Mg, SO4, K and Ca contents by factors of circa 6, 3, 2 and ~1.3, respectively, compared to the ambient seawater. Relations of the major element concentrations reveal a mixing curve between seawater and enriched Na/Cl and depleted Mg/Cl, K/Cl and SO4/Cl end-members, and do not coincide with relics of fossil residual evaporated seawater. We propose their composition reflects: 1) dissolution of Messinian halite (NaCl) by seawater, supported by their low Br/Cl ratios; 2) additional small rise in Na/Cl ratios due to the impact of clay mineral dehydration or/and dissolution of trace (~1% of the Na) amounts of detrital trona (Na3H(CO3)2•2H20), coinciding with the enriched alkalinity concentrations; 3) diagenesis processes depleting Mg, K and SO4, mainly by the formation of authigenic K-rich Mg-smectite, clay mineral dehydration, dolomitization/Mg-calcite precipitation and redox processes. The δ18O and δD values of the Palmahim brine may reflect the impact of clay mineral dehydration. Comparison to all other East Mediterranean brine lakes shows that the Palmahim brine pool system represents similar provenance of brines as observed for the Eastern Mediterranean Napoli, Nadir and Tyro lakes, while potentially recording additional processes attributed to its proximity to the coastal area.

A study of carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in fine-grained sedimentary dolomite in the Barney Creek Formation of the McArthur basin demonstrates the presence of an extensive isotope halo surrounding the giant stratiform HYC Zn-Pb-Ag deposit. Dolomite within the halo shows an 18O-enriched and 13C-depleted isotope signature ( δ 18O = 23 to 26‰ SMOW, δ 13C = –2 to –3.5‰ PDB), relative to normal Proterozoic sedimentary dolomite beyond the halo ( δ 18O = 20–23‰ and δ 13C = 0 to –2‰). The C-O isotope halo within the dolomitic siltstones extends at least 15 km southwest of the HYC deposit and approximately coincides with a previously defined lithogeochemical halo of elevated Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb, and Tl. Dolomitic siltstone lamellae within the stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag ores at HYC exhibit an isotopic range similar to that of the halo dolomites, suggesting that the ore and halo equilibrated with the same hydrothermal fluid. Modeling of isotopic exchange accompanying fluid-rock interaction suggests that the halo dolomites equilibrated with low-temperature fluids (50°–120°C), which were enriched in 18O ( δ 18O = 5 ± 5‰) but with an average crustal carbon isotope signature ( δ 13C = –6 ± 1‰). Our preferred interpretation is that the oxygen and carbon isotope halo at HYC is related to the development of an extensive brine pool. This pool was deepest in the vicinity of the HYC deposit adjacent to the Emu fault, and it became shallower to the southwest away from the fault. Using the carbon isotope fractionation equation between dolomite and HC\batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \(O_{3}^{{\mbox{--}}}\) \end{document}, it is possible to estimate the temperature variation at the base of the brine pool during the accumulation of the Barney Creek Formation. Brine pool temperatures were highest in and adjacent to the HYC deposit (40°–70°C) and decreased to values of 17° to 30°C remote from the deposit. These temperatures are similar to those recorded in the Red Sea brine pool associated with the Atlantis II metalliferous sediment deposit. Based on our work at HYC and Lady Loretta, strata-bound 18O-enriched carbonate lithogeochemical halos may be a characteristic of the Proterozoic stratiform Zn-Pb-Ag deposits of northern Australia. These halos are more extensive than the narrow 18O-depletion halos recorded in dolomites surrounding skarn, Mississippi Valley-type and Irish-style Zn-Pb deposits. This fundamental difference in the isotopic halo characteristics of these groups of zinc deposits is probably related to the low-temperature, synsedimentary brine pool origin of the North Australian SEDEX deposits in contrast to the various replacement and open space fill origins of skarn, Mississippi Valley-type, and Irish-style deposits.

Deep-sea brine pools represent rare, extreme environments, providing unique insight into the limits of life on Earth, and by analogy, the plausibility of life beyond it. A distinguishing feature of many brine pools is presence of thick microbial mats that develop at the brine–seawater interface. While these bacterial and archaeal communities have received moderate attention, viruses and their host interactions in these environments remain underexplored. To bridge this knowledge gap, we leveraged metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data from three distinct zones within the NEOM brine pool system (Gulf of Aqaba) to reveal the active viral ecology around the pools. We report a remarkable diversity and activity of viruses infecting microbial hosts in this environment, including giant viruses, RNA viruses, jumbo phages, and Polinton-like viruses. Many of these form distinct clades—suggesting presence of untapped viral diversity in this ecosystem. Brine pool viral communities exhibit zone-specific differences in infection strategy—with lysogeny dominating the bacterial mat further away from the pool’s center. We linked viruses to metabolically important prokaryotes—including association between a jumbo phage and a key manganese-oxidizing and arsenic-metabolizing bacterium. These foundational results illuminate the role of viruses in modulating brine pool microbial communities and biogeochemistry through revealing novel viral diversity, host associations, and spatial heterogeneity in viral dynamics.

A hypoxic/suboxic brine pool at a depth of about 850 m was discovered near the Thuwal cold seeps in the Red Sea. Filled with high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide and ammonia, such a brine pool might limit the spread of eukaryotic organisms. Here, we compared the communities of the eukaryotic microbes in a microbial mat, sediments and water samples distributed in 7 sites within and adjacent to the brine pool. Taxonomic classification of the pyrosequenced 18S rRNA amplicon reads showed that fungi highly similar to the species identified along the Arabic coast were almost ubiquitous in the water and sediment samples, supporting their wide distribution in various environments. The microbial mat displayed the highest species diversity and contained grazers and a considerable percentage of unclassified species. Phylogeny-based methods revealed novel lineages representing a majority of the reads from the interface between the sea water and brine pool. Phylogenetic relationships with more reference sequences suggest that the lineages were affiliated with novel Alveolata and Euglenozoa inhabiting the interface where chemosynthetic prokaryotes are highly proliferative due to the strong chemocline and halocline. The brine sediments harbored abundant species highly similar to invertebrate gregarine parasites identified in different oxygen-depleted sediments. Therefore, the present findings support the uniqueness of some microbial eukaryotic groups in this cold seep brine system.

Numerical heat and fluid flow simulations of the Atlantis II Deep in the Red Sea were conducted to investigate the development, migration, and discharge of hydrothermal fluids into a submarine depression and determine the conditions necessary to form a brine pool. High-salinity fluids are predicted to form by leaching Miocene evaporates, migrate and convect within young oceanic crust, and discharge onto the seafloor. Predicted fluid discharge temperatures (T max, 301 °C), discharge fluid velocities (V max, 0.09 m/s), and salinities (S max, 21 wt%) increase over time and reach values comparable to modern seafloor observations. Established convection patterns and discharge behavior are robust and are not greatly affected by geometry of rock property changes. Modeling results were used to calculate the minimum conditions for hydrothermal fluids from a developing hydrothermal system to mix with seawater, reverse buoyancy, and begin to form a brine pool in a submarine depression. Under conditions encountered on the seafloor (T, 25–300 °C; S, 5–25 wt%), fluid mixtures predicted to pond on the seafloor range from late in the mixing process (99 %) at low temperatures (T, 26 °C) to much earlier (36 % mixing) at higher temperatures (T, 94 °C). A model of brine pool evolution is proposed that describes the processes and conditions necessary to initiate brine pool formation and compares formation conditions with accumulated ore material in the Atlantis II Deep and other locations.

Shell carbon isotope indicators of metabolic activity in the deep-sea mussel Bathymodiolus childressi

Trace metal distribution in the Atlantis II Deep (Red Sea) sediments

Marine climate archives in Red Sea sediments have the great potential to improve our understanding of mankind&amp;#8217;s dispersal out of Africa. However, cores from deep sea sediments are often greatly disturbed by bioturbation reducing the resolution of recorded climate events. We report geochemical and geophysical data from a 244 cm long sediment core collected from a recently discovered deep sea brine pool near the Arabian slope and the Al Wajh carbonate platform. The analysis of the high-resolution climate archive preserved in the undisturbed sediments of the brine pool provide excellent correlations to numerous known historical events in the last 6.5 ka, and indicate the great potential of brine pool sediments to provide further insights into climate changes and human civilization development within the African-Arabian dessert belt.The recovered marine sediment core from a brine pool was therefore investigated to test its reliability for in-depth Holocene climate studies. The brine-filled depression (&gt;190 PSU; 25 m thick) is located 25 km south of the Al Wajh carbonate platform in 640 m water depths. It is bounded by a salt extrusion in the northwest and a steep shallow water reef in the east. The undisturbed dark-olive coloured sediment succession are carbonate-dominated, devoid of bioturbation, and rich in TOC indicating an anoxic environment. The established stratigraphy via five radiocarbon dates of (planktic foraminifera. T.sacculifer and O. universa) resulted in high sedimentation rates ranging from 30.22 to 50.6 cm/ka. The integration of geochemical (e.g., isotope data, XRF) and geophysical data (e.g., magnetic susceptibility, spectrophotometer reflectance) revealed the recording of dozens of prominent climate periods (e.g., Roman Climate Optimum, Little Ice Age), changes (e.g., Mid-Holocene Highstand), and historical events (e.g., collapse of Late Uruk and Akkadian Empire) since the Mid-Holocene. In addition, the data analyses suggest that even periods of increased ENSO activity are recorded within the brine pool sediments of the Red Sea.The outcome of this study highlights the potential of anoxic brine pool sediments as a unique and important high-resolution climate archive and the urgent need to further in-depth studies.