On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica
International audience Motivated by the possibility of comparing theoretical predictions of Lake Vostok's composition with future in situ measurements, we investigate the composition of clathrates that are expected to form in this environment from the air supplied to the lake by melting ice. In...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00820961v1 2023-05-15T13:54:35+02:00 On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica Mousis, O. Lakhlifi, A. Picaud, S. Pasek, M. Chassefière, E. Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213) (UTINAM) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC) Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC) Institute of Thermomechanics (Prague, Czech Republic) Czech Academy of Sciences Prague (CAS) Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2013 https://hal.science/hal-00820961 en eng HAL CCSD Mary Ann Liebert hal-00820961 https://hal.science/hal-00820961 ISSN: 1531-1074 Astrobiology https://hal.science/hal-00820961 Astrobiology, 2013, 13 (4), pp.380-390 [PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2013 ftunivnantes 2023-02-15T00:15:49Z International audience Motivated by the possibility of comparing theoretical predictions of Lake Vostok's composition with future in situ measurements, we investigate the composition of clathrates that are expected to form in this environment from the air supplied to the lake by melting ice. In order to establish the best possible correlation between the lake water composition with that of air clathrates formed in situ, we use a statistical thermodynamic model based on the description of the guest-clathrate interaction by a spherically averaged Kihara potential with a nominal set of potential parameters. We determine the fugacities of the different volatiles present in the lake by defining a "pseudo" pure substance dissolved in water owning the average properties of the mixture and by using the Redlich-Kwong equation of state to mimic its thermodynamic behavior. Irrespective of the clathrate structure considered in our model, we find that xenon and krypton are strongly impoverished in the lake water (a ratio in the 0.04--0.1 range for xenon and a ratio in the ∼∼\sim0.15--0.3 range for krypton), compared to their atmospheric abundances. Argon and methane are also found depleted in the Lake Vostok water by factors in the 0.5--0.95 and 0.3--0.5 ranges respectively, compared to their atmospheric abundances. On the other hand, the carbone dioxide abundance is found substantially enriched in the lake water compared to its atmospheric abundance (by a factor in the 1.6--5 range at 200 residence times). The comparison of our predictions of the CO22_2 and CH44_4 mole fractions in Lake Vostok with future in situ measurements will allow disentangling between the possible supply sources. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Lake Vostok ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] |
spellingShingle |
[PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] Mousis, O. Lakhlifi, A. Picaud, S. Pasek, M. Chassefière, E. On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
topic_facet |
[PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP] |
description |
International audience Motivated by the possibility of comparing theoretical predictions of Lake Vostok's composition with future in situ measurements, we investigate the composition of clathrates that are expected to form in this environment from the air supplied to the lake by melting ice. In order to establish the best possible correlation between the lake water composition with that of air clathrates formed in situ, we use a statistical thermodynamic model based on the description of the guest-clathrate interaction by a spherically averaged Kihara potential with a nominal set of potential parameters. We determine the fugacities of the different volatiles present in the lake by defining a "pseudo" pure substance dissolved in water owning the average properties of the mixture and by using the Redlich-Kwong equation of state to mimic its thermodynamic behavior. Irrespective of the clathrate structure considered in our model, we find that xenon and krypton are strongly impoverished in the lake water (a ratio in the 0.04--0.1 range for xenon and a ratio in the ∼∼\sim0.15--0.3 range for krypton), compared to their atmospheric abundances. Argon and methane are also found depleted in the Lake Vostok water by factors in the 0.5--0.95 and 0.3--0.5 ranges respectively, compared to their atmospheric abundances. On the other hand, the carbone dioxide abundance is found substantially enriched in the lake water compared to its atmospheric abundance (by a factor in the 1.6--5 range at 200 residence times). The comparison of our predictions of the CO22_2 and CH44_4 mole fractions in Lake Vostok with future in situ measurements will allow disentangling between the possible supply sources. |
author2 |
Univers, Transport, Interfaces, Nanostructures, Atmosphère et environnement, Molécules (UMR 6213) (UTINAM) Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC) Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC) Institute of Thermomechanics (Prague, Czech Republic) Czech Academy of Sciences Prague (CAS) Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mousis, O. Lakhlifi, A. Picaud, S. Pasek, M. Chassefière, E. |
author_facet |
Mousis, O. Lakhlifi, A. Picaud, S. Pasek, M. Chassefière, E. |
author_sort |
Mousis, O. |
title |
On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
title_short |
On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
title_full |
On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in Lake Vostok, Antarctica |
title_sort |
on the abundances of noble and biologically relevant gases in lake vostok, antarctica |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00820961 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(106.000,106.000,-77.500,-77.500) |
geographic |
Lake Vostok |
geographic_facet |
Lake Vostok |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica |
op_source |
ISSN: 1531-1074 Astrobiology https://hal.science/hal-00820961 Astrobiology, 2013, 13 (4), pp.380-390 |
op_relation |
hal-00820961 https://hal.science/hal-00820961 |
_version_ |
1766260576730742784 |