Cargando…

High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus

It has been suggested that Saturn's moon Enceladus possesses a subsurface ocean. The recent discovery of silica nanoparticles derived from Enceladus shows the presence of ongoing hydrothermal reactions in the interior. Here, we report results from detailed laboratory experiments to constrain th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Sekine, Yasuhito, Shibuya, Takazo, Postberg, Frank, Hsu, Hsiang-Wen, Suzuki, Katsuhiko, Masaki, Yuka, Kuwatani, Tatsu, Mori, Megumi, Hong, Peng K., Yoshizaki, Motoko, Tachibana, Shogo, Sirono, Sin-iti
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Pub. Group 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4639802/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26506464
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9604
_version_ 1782399987963920384
author Sekine, Yasuhito
Shibuya, Takazo
Postberg, Frank
Hsu, Hsiang-Wen
Suzuki, Katsuhiko
Masaki, Yuka
Kuwatani, Tatsu
Mori, Megumi
Hong, Peng K.
Yoshizaki, Motoko
Tachibana, Shogo
Sirono, Sin-iti
author_facet Sekine, Yasuhito
Shibuya, Takazo
Postberg, Frank
Hsu, Hsiang-Wen
Suzuki, Katsuhiko
Masaki, Yuka
Kuwatani, Tatsu
Mori, Megumi
Hong, Peng K.
Yoshizaki, Motoko
Tachibana, Shogo
Sirono, Sin-iti
author_sort Sekine, Yasuhito
collection PubMed
description It has been suggested that Saturn's moon Enceladus possesses a subsurface ocean. The recent discovery of silica nanoparticles derived from Enceladus shows the presence of ongoing hydrothermal reactions in the interior. Here, we report results from detailed laboratory experiments to constrain the reaction conditions. To sustain the formation of silica nanoparticles, the composition of Enceladus' core needs to be similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites. We show that the presence of hydrothermal reactions would be consistent with NH(3)- and CO(2)-rich plume compositions. We suggest that high reaction temperatures (>50 °C) are required to form silica nanoparticles whether Enceladus' ocean is chemically open or closed to the icy crust. Such high temperatures imply either that Enceladus formed shortly after the formation of the solar system or that the current activity was triggered by a recent heating event. Under the required conditions, hydrogen production would proceed efficiently, which could provide chemical energy for chemoautotrophic life.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4639802
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2015
publisher Nature Pub. Group
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-46398022015-12-08 High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus Sekine, Yasuhito Shibuya, Takazo Postberg, Frank Hsu, Hsiang-Wen Suzuki, Katsuhiko Masaki, Yuka Kuwatani, Tatsu Mori, Megumi Hong, Peng K. Yoshizaki, Motoko Tachibana, Shogo Sirono, Sin-iti Nat Commun Article It has been suggested that Saturn's moon Enceladus possesses a subsurface ocean. The recent discovery of silica nanoparticles derived from Enceladus shows the presence of ongoing hydrothermal reactions in the interior. Here, we report results from detailed laboratory experiments to constrain the reaction conditions. To sustain the formation of silica nanoparticles, the composition of Enceladus' core needs to be similar to that of carbonaceous chondrites. We show that the presence of hydrothermal reactions would be consistent with NH(3)- and CO(2)-rich plume compositions. We suggest that high reaction temperatures (>50 °C) are required to form silica nanoparticles whether Enceladus' ocean is chemically open or closed to the icy crust. Such high temperatures imply either that Enceladus formed shortly after the formation of the solar system or that the current activity was triggered by a recent heating event. Under the required conditions, hydrogen production would proceed efficiently, which could provide chemical energy for chemoautotrophic life. Nature Pub. Group 2015-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC4639802/ /pubmed/26506464 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9604 Text en Copyright © 2015, Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited. All Rights Reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
spellingShingle Article
Sekine, Yasuhito
Shibuya, Takazo
Postberg, Frank
Hsu, Hsiang-Wen
Suzuki, Katsuhiko
Masaki, Yuka
Kuwatani, Tatsu
Mori, Megumi
Hong, Peng K.
Yoshizaki, Motoko
Tachibana, Shogo
Sirono, Sin-iti
High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title_full High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title_fullStr High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title_full_unstemmed High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title_short High-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of Enceladus
title_sort high-temperature water–rock interactions and hydrothermal environments in the chondrite-like core of enceladus
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4639802/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26506464
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9604
work_keys_str_mv AT sekineyasuhito hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT shibuyatakazo hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT postbergfrank hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT hsuhsiangwen hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT suzukikatsuhiko hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT masakiyuka hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT kuwatanitatsu hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT morimegumi hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT hongpengk hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT yoshizakimotoko hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT tachibanashogo hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus
AT sironosiniti hightemperaturewaterrockinteractionsandhydrothermalenvironmentsinthechondritelikecoreofenceladus