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Different salt chimneys discovered by a recent survey in the Dead Sea. In an interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), researchers have discovered meter-high salt chimneys on the floor of the Dead Sea. Chimney-like structures formed by the crystallization of minerals are not unknown, with the most famous examples being the black smokers found along the mid-ocean ridges and the tufa towers of Mono Lake.
While black smokers emit hot mineral-rich fluids, forming sulfur- and iron minerals as soon as the fluids come in contact with cold seawater, and the tufa towers from around calcium-rich water springs, the chimneys in the Dead Sea are formed by highly saline groundwater flows. The groundwater from the aquifers surrounding the Dead Sea basin flows through thick layers of old salt deposits, dissolving the mineral halite and flowing into the lake as upwards-rising brine plumes. This is quite unusual, as saltwater has a higher density than freshwater.
However, salinity levels in the Dead Sea are so high that the brine is still less dense than the surrounding water. "Because the density of this brine is somewhat lower than that of the water in the Dead Sea, it rises upwards like a jet. It looks like smoke, but it's a saline fluid," explains UFZ hydrogeologist Dr.
Christian Siebert , the lead author of the new study describing the discovery. Siebert and his team have been researching how the dynamics of the groundwater system in this region are changing and how aquifers are finding new paths in the rock strata both on land and below the Dead Sea. Divers discovered the chimneys during a survey of the lake floor at a depth of roughly 30 meters (100 feet).
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An individual salt chimney at a depth of roughly 30 meters. The chimneys aren't only a geological oddity; they could also play an important role in the forecasting of sinkholes. Sinkholes are large craters formed by the dissolution of massive layers of salt or other water-soluble minerals in the underground and subsequent—often also sudden—collapse of the cavities.
"To date, no one can predict where the next sinkholes will occur. They are also life-threatening and pose a threat to agriculture and infrastructure," says Siebert. The research team was able to show that the chimneys had formed wherever the land surface subsequently collapsed over a large area.
Likely the groundwater flow forming the chimneys is also responsible for underground cavities in the surrounding area. Thousands of new sinkholes have formed along the Dead Sea in recent decades. "This makes the white smokers an outstanding forecasting tool for locating areas that are at risk of collapse in the near future," Siebert concludes.
The full study, " A new type of submarine chimneys built of halite, " was published in the journal Science of The Total Environment and can be found online here . Additional material and interviews provided by Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research ..
