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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Scientists model electrolyte transport on icy exoplanets

Figuring out a way to move electrolytes between rocky cores and liquid oceans may have implications for the habitability of water-rich exoplanets.

(CN) — In a study published Tuesday, scientists reveal water on icy exoplanets may become enriched using electrolytes in the rocky core of the planet, a finding that enhances our understanding of habitability in these exoplanets.

In the quest to find life beyond Earth, astronomers have frequently investigated planets outside our own solar system to find worlds potentially like Earth. In particular, water and ice-based exoplanets and moons have been studied as possible Earth-like counterparts. This study focused specifically on the necessity of salts and electrolytes for the waters of potentially habitable worlds.

Jean-Alexis Hernández, a scientist with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and lead author of the study, clarifies, “Life requires many other conditions in addition to the presence of electrolytes in the ocean, so we do not pretend to assess the habitability of these planets, but we simply show that they may not be as chemically simple as expected.”

The study authors investigated the solubility of electrolytes — in this case, salts like sodium chloride — in the layers of icy exoplanets and the potential for transport between the rocky core to the outer liquid ocean layer of these exoplanets in order to prime the waters for biological reactions.

Scientists posit that these salts and electrolytes would have been already present during the initial formation of the exoplanets. In these icy exoplanets, the solid inner core is separated from the outer liquid water layer by a high-pressure ice mantle that astronomers had thought could block movement of electrolytes between the layers. Due to the pressures and temperatures of these exoplanets, this ice is a shell that is denser and stiffer than ice on Earth's surface.

Using molecular dynamics simulations and thermodynamic modeling, researchers were able to demonstrate that electrolytes could be able to permeate the ice shell and move with the ice to enrich the ocean layer. By modeling an increase in the concentration of sodium chloride, researchers showcased an increased distortion of the water molecules. By changing the dynamics and the structures of the icy mantle, researchers could determine conditions that would allow for the dispersion of electrolytes between the inner and outer layers of the exoplanet.

The scientists studied the salts can be transported through the icy mantle by thermal convection, a concept wherein heated material toward the bottom becomes less dense and rises to the top, where it eventually cools down and sinks.

“The convecting salty ice would therefore be able to transport the salt and other electrolytes from the bottom of the HP ice mantle to the overlying ocean and vice-versa. This contrasts with the previous idea that the HP ice mantle would act as a chemical insulator between the rocky and the ocean,” Hernández said in an email.

Hernández and the study emphasize the need for more investigation in this direction. The scope of the study covers sodium chloride within the specific range of pressures and temperatures of larger water-rich exoplanets and may not be applicable to the closer-to-home icy moons like Europa of Jupiter.

Categories / Science

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