Accomplishment Based Renewal (ABR): Pyrite, metal sulfide and aluminosilicate nanoparticles as kinetically stable sources of iron and other metals to the ocean

University Of Delaware, Newark DE

Investigators

Abstract

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are sources of soluble metals to the deep ocean. Research in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has shown that these dynamic systems are responsible for increases in dissolved iron concentrations up to 4000 kilometers away from where the vents are located. Previous work has shown that up to 11% of the iron released from seafloor hydrothermal vents exists as pyrite nanoparticles (i.e., particles that can pass thorough a 200 nanometer filter). This nano-pyrite, which has a slow oxidation rate in seawater, and its oxidation products can account for the observed increase in dissolved iron in deep ocean waters. This results in enhanced primary biological productivity because iron is an essential micronutrient for bacteria and plankton upon which larger marine organisms feed. Iron, potassium, magnesium and manganese also get incorporated into nano-sized silicates and aluminosilicates as well as larger solid mineral phases, an example of reverse weathering. This research involves both field and laboratory components that examine the production and impact of nano-sulfides and other minerals on the deep ocean iron budget. The field component involves measuring the extent to which nanoparticle-sized pyrite and other metal sulfide phases emanate from seafloor hydrothermal vents on the East Pacific Rise, a fast spreading mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal center. Results of the chemical and physical analysis of these samples, as well as laboratory experiments, onshore, that grow and perform experiments with synthetic analogs of these phases will explore whether copper-sulfur nanoparticulate phases are seed crystals for the formation of nanoparticulate pyrite and other nano-sized phases. It will also examine the process of reverse weathering, which is how silicate and aluminosilicate nanoparticles form and react when hot metal-rich hydrothermal vent waters interact with cold seawater on the ocean floor, something that occurs within the first couple of meters of the vent orifice. Broader impacts of the work include postdoctoral and graduate and undergraduate student training; support of research at an institution in a state (Delaware) that does not receive significant amounts of federal funding (i.e., an EPScoR state); and public outreach via a dedicated website for the oceanographic research cruise on which a K-12 teacher will attend and produce cruise and research related materials targeted to middle and high school students. Public outreach via the University of Delaware's Coast Day which attracts over 10,000 people will be carried out to transmit the excitement and value of the research. This research examines both natural and synthetic materials. Natural materials will come from hydrothermal vents located at 9-10 degrees north latitude in the central Pacific Ocean; and synthetic analog materials, for which various chemical parameters such as pH, sulfide, and metal concentrations, will be generated onshore in the laboratory. All particles will undergo, at a minimum, four types of analyses: analysis of the Fe and sulfide content; analysis of trace metals; and scanning and transmission electron microscopic and energy dispersive chemical compositional analysis. Natural samples will be collected from fluids filtered from hydrothermal vents with trace-metal-clean titanium samplers. Upon retrieval of the natural samples, pH will be measured and samples will be filtered in an argon filled glove bag. Samples will be analyzed in triplicate via inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for bioactive metals like Fe, Cu, Zn, Mn, Ni, Cd, and Pb. Individual particles will be examined under the transmission and scanning electron microscopes to determine their morphology and mineral structural characteristics and sizes. Synthetic analogs to the natural materials will be generated in the lab by reacting solutions of FeS and H2S with Cu at temperatures from 20 to 150 C. These will also undergo the same analyses as the natural samples with results of the comparison being used to better understand the formation and reactivity of hydrothermal vent originated nanoparticles in the ocean.