Salt on EARTH Magazine

Red Planet Roundup: February 2018

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:40:47 -0500

An artist's depiction of solar magnetic field lines (yellow), localized Martian field lines (blue) and magnetic reconnected field lines (red) all contributing to Mars' complex magnetotail. Credit: Anil Rao/Univ. of Colorado/MAVEN/NASA.

With two rovers patrolling the surface of Mars, six spacecraft orbiting above it, and scientists here on Earth studying the Red Planet from afar, new findings are announced often. Here are a few of the latest updates.

How the Arctic became salty

Thu, 14 Sep 2017 12:48:13 -0400

During the Eocene, the Arctic Ocean was a giant freshwater lake fed by rivers and ice melt. Today, it's salty and ice-covered much of the year. Credit: NASA.

The Arctic Ocean hasn’t always been as salty as other oceans. In the Eocene, between 56 million and 34 million years ago, the water surrounding the North Pole — freshened by melt from sea ice and river runoff — was cut off from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by land bridges. At some point, plate tectonic processes opened the North Atlantic, submerging the land bridges and allowing saltwater to pour into the Arctic, but the timing and details of these events are largely unknown. New research suggests a tipping point may have been reached as one particular land bridge submerged far enough below the ocean surface.

Travels in Geology: Sky-high adventure on Bolivia's Altiplano

Wed, 16 Aug 2017 12:20:27 -0400

Green Lagoon (Laguna Verde) is a highly concentrated salt lake located in the southwest of the Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve at the foot of the Licancabur Volcano, Sur Lipez Province, Bolivia. The green-turquoise color of the water is due to suspension of arsenic and other minerals. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/thomaslusth.

Nestled between two ranges of the rugged Andes Mountains, the Altiplano is a vast, windswept plateau that stretches more than 900 kilometers from southern Peru to northern Argentina. Most of this arid upland, which averages about 3,750 meters in elevation, sits in western Bolivia, where its surface is dotted with a series of stunning natural attractions. From the snow-white crystals of the world’s largest salt flats and flocks of pink flamingos in a brick-red lake to the startlingly azure waters of Lake Titicaca, the planet’s highest navigable lake, the Altiplano offers spectacular, vividly colored vistas for intrepid travelers. You could easily spend a month exploring this region, or get a tantalizing, week-long taste as part of a bigger South American journey, as we did in 2016, when we started in Peru and ended in Patagonia.

Travels in Geology: Austria's Salzkammergut: World heritage preserved in salt

Tue, 18 Jul 2017 09:57:02 -0400

Stunning Alpine scenery and historic attractions abound in Austria's salt district, the Salzkammergut. Credit: Lon Abbott and Terri Cook.

In Austria’s famous salt district, the Salzkammergut, the long arc of European history, so palpable to North American visitors wherever they travel through Europe, reaches especially far back. Nestled between stunning Alpine peaks and sparkling lakes are numerous salt mines, including those at Hallstatt, which are the oldest known on Earth. Artifacts from the mine date back 7,000 years to the Neolithic, or New Stone Age, period. Surrounding Salzburg, the region’s hub and picturesque home to Mozart, a compact driving loop wends past these mines and a series of other captivating sites that evoke the region’s rich heritage fortuitously preserved in salt.

Whirling "gravel devils" show wind can carry more than just sand

Thu, 15 Jun 2017 11:24:28 -0400

Abraded gypsum blades deposited by a gravel devil. Credit: Kathleen Benison.

A gypsum gravel devil swirls above the Salar Gorbea. Credit: Kathleen Benison.

Sand grains, by definition, are between 0.06 and 2 millimeters in diameter, and they are often thought of by scientists as the largest sediments that wind can transport, with larger sediments simply being too hefty for winds to keep aloft. But strong winds, particularly in tropical storms and tornadoes, are known to move objects far larger than sand over short distances. Now, in the high Andes of Chile on the Salar Gorbea salt flat, evidence has been found of tornadic “gravel devils” whipping across the landscape and transporting gypsum crystals as long as 27 centimeters.

Road salt may be a larger problem for lakes than thought

Tue, 17 Jan 2017 14:23:45 -0500

Students collect measurements of conditions in Woods Lake in Kalamazoo, Mich. Credit: Lynne Heasley.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported that approximately 30 million tons of road salt were applied to U.S. roads during 2015 to speed up the melting of snow and ice. Recently, scientists have observed increasing impacts on ecosystems and water quality linked to its application. New research, for example, finds that road salt influx is geochemically disrupting the ecosystem health of urban lakes in Michigan, and it may even lead to rising methane emissions from the lakes.

Shallow crust magma with a dash of salt and peperite

Tue, 02 Sep 2014 13:49:51 -0400

A mafic dike (right) cuts across a salt formation, exposed in the Herfa- Neurode Mine in Germany. The bulbous, pillowy peperite (center, left) formed when a sill intruded carnallite salt, causing water loss and instability in the salt. Credit: Nick Schofield.

Magma and salt are not often paired on the menu of geology. But, occasionally, the two do mix — with surprising results. Researchers explored these interactions in a new study, the first to examine how magma emplacement occurs in salt formations.

Bacteria back from the brink

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:41:58 -0500

Layered salt crystals, colored pink and green from trapped microorganisms. From a layered salt pan in Saline Valley, Calif. Michael Timofeeff

A microbial bloom of living, green _Dunaliella _algae found within a fluid inclusion in a salt crystal. Michael Timofeeff

Thousand- and million-year-old microbes found living in salt crystals: Could they also exist on other planets?