IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-31412-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

86Kr excess and other noble gases identify a billion-year-old radiogenically-enriched groundwater system

Author

Listed:
  • O. Warr

    (University of Toronto)

  • C. J. Ballentine

    (University of Oxford)

  • T. C. Onstott

    (Princeton University)

  • D. M. Nisson

    (Princeton University)

  • T. L. Kieft

    (New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology)

  • D. J. Hillegonds

    (University of Oxford)

  • B. Sherwood Lollar

    (University of Toronto
    IPGP, Sorbonne Paris Cité)

Abstract

Deep within the Precambrian basement rocks of the Earth, groundwaters can sustain subsurface microbial communities, and are targets of investigation both for geologic storage of carbon and/or nuclear waste, and for new reservoirs of rapidly depleting resources of helium. Noble gas-derived residence times have revealed deep hydrological settings where groundwaters are preserved on millions to billion-year timescales. Here we report groundwaters enriched in the highest concentrations of radiogenic products yet discovered in fluids, with an associated 86Kr excess in the free fluid, and residence times >1 billion years. This brine, from a South African gold mine 3 km below surface, demonstrates that ancient groundwaters preserved in the deep continental crust on billion-year geologic timescales may be more widespread than previously understood. The findings have implications beyond Earth, where on rocky planets such as Mars, subsurface water may persist on long timescales despite surface conditions that no longer provide a habitable zone.

Suggested Citation

  • O. Warr & C. J. Ballentine & T. C. Onstott & D. M. Nisson & T. L. Kieft & D. J. Hillegonds & B. Sherwood Lollar, 2022. "86Kr excess and other noble gases identify a billion-year-old radiogenically-enriched groundwater system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31412-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31412-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31412-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-31412-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. B. Sherwood Lollar & T. D. Westgate & J. A. Ward & G. F. Slater & G. Lacrampe-Couloume, 2002. "Abiogenic formation of alkanes in the Earth's crust as a minor source for global hydrocarbon reservoirs," Nature, Nature, vol. 416(6880), pages 522-524, April.
    2. Justine F. Sauvage & Ashton Flinders & Arthur J. Spivack & Robert Pockalny & Ann G. Dunlea & Chloe H. Anderson & David C. Smith & Richard W. Murray & Steven D’Hondt, 2021. "The contribution of water radiolysis to marine sedimentary life," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. G. Borgonie & A. García-Moyano & D. Litthauer & W. Bert & A. Bester & E. van Heerden & C. Möller & M. Erasmus & T. C. Onstott, 2011. "Nematoda from the terrestrial deep subsurface of South Africa," Nature, Nature, vol. 474(7349), pages 79-82, June.
    4. R. L. Tyne & P. H. Barry & M. Lawson & D. J. Byrne & O. Warr & H. Xie & D. J. Hillegonds & M. Formolo & Z. M. Summers & B. Skinner & J. M. Eiler & C. J. Ballentine, 2021. "Rapid microbial methanogenesis during CO2 storage in hydrocarbon reservoirs," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7890), pages 670-674, December.
    5. L. Li & B. A. Wing & T. H. Bui & J. M. McDermott & G. F. Slater & S. Wei & G. Lacrampe-Couloume & B. Sherwood Lollar, 2016. "Sulfur mass-independent fractionation in subsurface fracture waters indicates a long-standing sulfur cycle in Precambrian rocks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Devan M. Nisson & Clifford C. Walters & Martha L. Chacón-Patiño & Chad R. Weisbrod & Thomas L. Kieft & Barbara Sherwood Lollar & Oliver Warr & Julio Castillo & Scott M. Perl & Errol D. Cason & Barry M, 2023. "Radiolytically reworked Archean organic matter in a habitable deep ancient high-temperature brine," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Huping Wang & Zhao Wang & Haikui Yin & Chao Jin & Xiaogang Zhang & Langtao Liu, 2023. "CO 2 Flow Characteristics in Macro-Scale Coal Sample: Effect of CO 2 Injection Pressure and Buried Depth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Devan M. Nisson & Clifford C. Walters & Martha L. Chacón-Patiño & Chad R. Weisbrod & Thomas L. Kieft & Barbara Sherwood Lollar & Oliver Warr & Julio Castillo & Scott M. Perl & Errol D. Cason & Barry M, 2023. "Radiolytically reworked Archean organic matter in a habitable deep ancient high-temperature brine," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    3. S. Emil Ruff & Pauline Humez & Isabella Hrabe Angelis & Muhe Diao & Michael Nightingale & Sara Cho & Liam Connors & Olukayode O. Kuloyo & Alan Seltzer & Samuel Bowman & Scott D. Wankel & Cynthia N. Mc, 2023. "Hydrogen and dark oxygen drive microbial productivity in diverse groundwater ecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Dorothy Z. Oehler & Sherry L. Cady, 2014. "Biogenicity and Syngeneity of Organic Matter in Ancient Sedimentary Rocks: Recent Advances in the Search for Evidence of Past Life," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-24, August.
    5. Koudai Taguchi & Alexis Gilbert & Barbara Sherwood Lollar & Thomas Giunta & Christopher J. Boreham & Qi Liu & Juske Horita & Yuichiro Ueno, 2022. "Low 13C-13C abundances in abiotic ethane," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Chen, Yifeng & Song, Shuailong & Li, Ning & Wu, Jian & Lu, Xiaohua & Ji, Xiaoyan, 2022. "Developing hybrid 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide/titanium dioxide/water absorbent for CO2 separation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).
    7. Li, Cong & Xie, Heping & Gao, Mingzhong & Chen, Ling & Zhao, Le & Li, Cunbao & Wu, Nianhan & He, Zhiqiang & Li, Jianan, 2021. "Novel designs of pressure controllers to enhance the upper pressure limit for gas-hydrate-bearing sediment sampling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31412-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.