Brine pool

These craters mark the formation of brine pools, from which salt has seeped through the seafloor and encrusted the nearby substrate.

NOAA rendering of a brine pool in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chimaeridae fish and seep mussels at edge of brine pool.

A brine pool is a large area of brine on the ocean basin. These pools are bodies of water that have a salinity three to five times greater than the surrounding ocean. For deep-sea brine pools, the source of the salt is the dissolution of large salt deposits through salt tectonics. The brine often contains high concentrations of methane, providing energy to chemosynthetic animals that live near the pool. These creatures are often extremophiles.^[1][2] Brine pools are also known to exist on the Antarctic Shelf where the source of brine is salt excluded during formation of sea ice. Deep-sea and Antarctic brine pools can be toxic to marine animals.

Characteristics

Brine pools are sometimes called seafloor "lakes" because the dense brine does not easily mix with overlying seawater. The high salinity raises the density of the brine, which creates a distinct surface and shoreline for the pool.^[3] When submarines dive into brine pools, they float on the brine surface due to the high density. The motion of a submarine can create waves across the brine-seawater interface that wash over the surrounding "shoreline".^[4]

Support of life

Deep sea brine pools often coincide with cold seep activity. Methane released by the seep is processed by bacteria, which have a symbiotic relationship with seep mussels living at the edge of the pool. This ecosystem is dependent on chemical energy, and unlike almost all other life on Earth, has little dependence on energy from the Sun.^[5]

Examples

• L'Atalante basin
• Orca Basin

References

Ponds, pools and puddles
Ponds	Ash pond Balancing lake Ballast pond Beel Cooling pond Detention pond Dew pond Evaporation pond Facultative lagoon Garden pond Ice pond Immersion pond Kettle pond Log pond Melt pond Mill pond Raceway pond Retention pond Sag pond Salt evaporation pond Sediment pond Settling pond Solar pond Stabilization pond Stepwell Stew pond Stormwater management pond Polishing pond Tailings Tarn Treatment pond Waste pond
Pools	Anchialine pool Brine pool Natural pool Plunge pool Reflecting pool Spent fuel pool Stream pool Swimming pool Tide pool Vernal pool
Puddles	Bird bath Coffee ring effect Puddle Puddles on a surface Seep puddle
Biota	Beaver dam Duck pond Fish pond Goldfish pond Koi pond
Ecosystems	Freshwater ecosystem Lake ecosystem Lentic ecosystem Aquatic ecosystem
Related topics	Aerated pond Bakki shower Big fish–little pond Body of water Full pond Hydric soil Phytotelma Water aeration Pond of Abundance Pond liner Ponding Puddle (M C Escher) Spring Swimming hole Water garden Water Lilies (Monet) Water well