Posted on 02/19/2011 5:13:56 PM PST by decimon
Washington — New evidence bolsters the notion that deep saline groundwaters in South Africa's Witwatersrand Basin may have remained isolated for many thousands, perhaps even millions, of years.
The study, recently accepted for publication in Chemical Geology, found the noble gas neon dissolved in water in three-kilometre deep crevices.
The unusual neon profile, along with the high salinities and some other unique chemical signatures, is very different from anything seen in molten fluid and gases rising from beneath the Earth's crust, according to University of Toronto professor Barbara Sherwood Lollar, who is the Canadian member of the international team that produced the results.
"The chemical signatures also don't match those of ocean water or waters higher up in the Witwatersrand Basin, where as in most regions of the crust ground waters show evidence of mixing with surface waters and are extensively colonized by microorganisms," she said. "We concluded that the deeper waters were the product of isolation and extensive chemical interaction between water and rock over incredibly long geological time scales."
The smoking gun was the ancient basement rock.
"We know that this specific neon isotope signature was produced and trapped within the rock at least two billion years ago. We can still find it there today," Dr. Sherwood Lollar said. "The study shows some of the neon found its way outside of the rock minerals, gradually dissolving into, and accumulating in, fluids in crevices. This could only happen in waters that have indeed been cut off from the surface for extremely long time periods."
The discovery adds yet another dimension to what has only recently been recognized as a truly unique environment.
One of these fracture systems contains the deepest known microbial ecosystems on Earth. These are organisms that eke out an existence independent from sunlight on chemical energy that originates from rock.
"These deep microbial communities radically expand our concept of the habitability of the Earth's subsurface and, indeed, our biosphere," said Dr. Sherwood Lollar.
"Given that they have a genetic similarity to organisms found at hydrothermal vents, we assume this is not a separate origin of life, but instead these organisms arrived from elsewhere to colonize these rocks in ancient times," she said.
"Clearly the long period of isolation affected their evolution. This is one area we hope to explore with continuing research with our microbiology colleagues."
The lead author of the paper is Johanna Lippmann-Pipke of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf in Leipzig, Germany. Researchers from that country, South Africa, the United States and Canada participated in the study.
Dr. Sherwood Lollar will be available to discuss the new findings at this year's meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, DC. On Sunday, February 20, she will take part in a panel discussion on global water issues at the Think Canada Press Breakfast. ###
Dr. Sherwood Lollar receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Contact:
Arnet Sheppard NSERC
Tel.: 1-613-293-3502
E-mail: arnet.sheppard@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
Earth contains an element called Thorium. It is slightly radioactive and has a half life of over 14 billion years. That means that pretty much all of it is still around.
It breaks down into what are called rare earths.
What you are imagining is that the ATOM is a fixed item. It's not. It has electrons, protons and neutrons. Those objects, in turn, are made up of quarks.
We use the term "element" to refer to combinations of electrons, protons and neutrons that react in certain ways "chemically".
As you have guessed we can have an element that has billions of years of stability and another that has only days of stability, yet they are chemically reactive in the same way.
Do not confuse the term "element" with the term "atom" ~
Good discussing going on. Just wanted to add one slightly philosophical comment. You are correct in that All elements are the same age, as in they are of "no age". Think infinity.
Created from WHAT? Come from WHERE? Nowhere to somewhere? Plus, nobody has ever been to a star. It is all hypothesis and I submit it is wrong. Stuff doesn't just show up from nowhere. It is either somewhere or nowhere at all. To posit otherwise is to chase Alice down the rabbit hole. Nonsense. Isotopes. Show me an isotope. Just one. Just one little isotope. If the nuclear content of an element changes it can't be the same element. But that never happens except in theory. Elements can't be destroyed unless you have invented an anti-matter machine. Gold is gold. Silver is silver and Hydrogen is hydrogen. They can all combine to form compounds but, in the end, its still gold. It is still Hydrogen.
Elements are made of atomic particles and forces. I agree. If anyone on this forum has figured out how to turn lead into gold, please email me immediately. I will fund that venture and, together, we will make Bill Gates and Warren Buffet look like paupers. All we need to do is move some electrons and protons around and... voila! We's rich!
Help me here. so... after 186 days, its not gold anymore? If that is true, please send me at your earliest convenience all gold over 186 days old. I promise to take good care of it until it changes, yet again, into something else...
Yup, there are gold nuggets (certainly small ones) out there that can pass all the assay tests for real gold but in just a short time they’ll become something else ~ and maybe something else again ~ but I don’t know what.
One product they're talking about is an aluminum super atom made from phosphorous atoms. It's transparent and also stronger than ordinary aluminum.
This thread is getting hairy. Must be something in the water . . . .
I’ll try to follicle long.
While astrand on the shore.
There do seem to be a good number of epic threads lately.
Don’t wig out.
If I do, someone will upbraid me.
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