Arctic rivers turn into a strange orange, and this may be the reason

Researchers have long believed that frozen environments slow chemical reactions, but the new research challenges this belief.

in Ticket Researchers were published last month in PNAS, and the researchers have shown that ice can melt iron minerals better than liquid water, with traces on many rivers in the Arctic that turn mysterious orange like the planet.

Specifically, Jean Francois Bailey, a co-author of the study and chemist at the University of Omese, and his colleagues revealed that the ice at 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 ° C) open more iron from the common minerals of liquid water at 39 ° F (4 degrees of Kilusios).

Iron melts more efficiently

“This may seem intuitive, but the ice is not a negative frozen block,” Bolile said at a university statement. “Freezing creates microscopic pockets of liquid water between ice crystals. This works like chemical reactors, where the compounds become very focused and acidic. This means that they can interact with iron minerals even at low temperatures up to 30 ° C.

They investigated Goethite (common iron oxide) with natural organic acid, and they revealed that frequent courses of freezing and soluble melt iron more efficiently. This is because the previously besieged organic compounds are launched during freezing and soluble, which generates additional chemical reactions. The team also pointed out that although freshwater and fresh water are strengthened, salty sea water can be subject to it.

These results carry important applications for acidic environments, according to researchers, including mine drainage sites, frozen dust in the atmosphere, or acid sulfate soil on the Baltic Sea coast, or any frozen acid environment where iron and organic materials interact. Moving forward, and researchers move forward, discover whether their results apply to all iron that contains iron.

“As climatic temperatures increase, freezing courses become more frequent,” said Angelo Pio Sibali, a student of high chemistry studies at the university and the first author of the study. “Every cycle that releases iron from the soil and the traumic soil to the water. This can affect the quality of water and aquatic ecosystems across vast areas.”

Ice is an active player

It is worth noting that the matter may be related to the reason that the rivers in the Arctic turn into an orange that warns of danger. The researchers wrote in the study: “By resolving chemical controls to solve minerals in the ice, this work can help explain how to provide the soluble ice events from soluble iron to nature.”

The paper also highlights the ice as an “active player”, according to the statement, unlike the “negative storage medium”, which confirms another component, we must closely monitor as climate change disrupts environments around the world.