Magnesium sulfate or magnesium sulphate is a chemical compound, a salt with the formula MgSO
4, consisting of magnesium cations Mg2+
and sulfate anions SO2−
4. It is a white crystalline solid, soluble in water but not in ethanol.
Magnesium chloride is the name for the chemical compound with the formula MgCl2 and its various hydrates MgCl2(H2O)x. Anhydrous MgCl2 contains 25.5% elemental magnesium by mass. These salts are typical ionic halides, being highly soluble in water. The hydrated magnesium chloride can be extracted from brine or sea water. In North America, magnesium chloride is produced primarily from Great Salt Lake brine. It is extracted in a similar process from the Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley. Magnesium chloride, as the natural mineral bischofite, is also extracted (by solution mining) out of ancient seabeds, for example, the Zechstein seabed in northwest Europe. Some magnesium chloride is made from solar evaporation of seawater. Anhydrous magnesium chloride is the principal precursor to magnesium metal, which is produced on a large scale. Hydrated magnesium chloride is the form most readily available.
The purple sulfur bacteria (PSB) are part of a group of Proteobacteria capable of photosynthesis, collectively referred to as purple bacteria. They are anaerobic or microaerophilic, and are often found in stratified water environments including hot springs, stagnant water bodies, as well as microbial mats in intertidal zones. Unlike plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, purple sulfur bacteria do not use water as their reducing agent, and therefore do not produce oxygen. Instead, they can use sulfur in the form of sulfide, or thiosulfate (as well, some species can use H2, Fe2+, or NO2−) as the electron donor in their photosynthetic pathways. The sulfur is oxidized to produce granules of elemental sulfur. This, in turn, may be oxidized to form sulfuric acid.
A meromictic lake is a lake which has layers of water that do not intermix. In ordinary, holomictic lakes, at least once each year, there is a physical mixing of the surface and the deep waters.
Green Lake is the larger of the two lakes in Green Lakes State Park, which lies about 9 miles (14 km) east of downtown Syracuse in Onondaga County, New York. Round Lake is the smaller lake located west of Green Lake. Both lakes are meromictic, which means no seasonal mixing of surface and bottom waters occurs. Meromictic lakes are fairly rare; they have been extensively studied, in part because their sediments can preserve a historical record extending back thousands of years, and because of the euxinic conditions which can form in the deep water.
Ruppia, also known as the widgeonweeds, ditch grasses or widgeon grass, is the only extant genus in the family Ruppiaceae, with eight known species. These are aquatic plants widespread over much of the world. The genus name honours Heinrich Bernhard Rupp, a German botanist (1688-1719). They are widespread outside of frigid zones and the tropics.
Sulfur water is a condition where water is exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas, giving a distinct "rotten egg" smell. This condition has different purposes in culture varying to health and implications to plumbing.
Anoxic waters are areas of sea water, fresh water, or groundwater that are depleted of dissolved oxygen and are a more severe condition of hypoxia. The US Geological Survey defines anoxic groundwater as those with dissolved oxygen concentration of less than 0.5 milligrams per litre. This condition is generally found in areas that have restricted water exchange.
Spotted Lake is a saline endorheic alkali lake located northwest of Osoyoos in the eastern Similkameen Valley of British Columbia, Canada, accessed via Highway 3.
Meridianiite is the mineral consisting of magnesium sulfate undecahydrate, MgSO
4·11H
2O. It is colorless transparent crystalline salt that precipitates from solutions saturated in Mg2+ and SO42− ions at temperatures less than 2 °C. The synthetic compound was formerly known as Fritzsche's salt.
CI chondrites, sometimes C1 chondrites, are a group of rare stony meteorites belonging to the carbonaceous chondrites. Samples have been discovered in France, Canada, India, and Tanzania. Compared to all the meteorites found so far, their chemical composition most closely resembles the elemental distribution in the sun's photosphere.
Ruppia cirrhosa is a species of aquatic plant known by the common names spiral ditchgrass and spiral tasselweed. It is native to the Americas and Europe, where it grows in freshwater bodies, such as lakes. It is a thread-thin, grasslike perennial herb which grows from a rhizome anchored in the wet substrate. It produces a long, narrow inflorescence tipped with two tiny flowers. As the fruit develops the peduncle of the inflorescence curls into a neat spiral.
Ruppia maritima is an aquatic plant species commonly known as beaked tasselweed, ditch grass, tassel pondweed and widgeon grass,. Despite its scientific name, it is not a marine plant; is perhaps best described as a salt-tolerant freshwater species. The generic name Ruppia was dedicated by Linnaeus to the German botanist Heinrich Bernhard Ruppius (1689-1719) and the specific name (maritima) translates to "of the sea".
Ruppia megacarpa is a submerged herb species in the genus Ruppia found in shallow brackish waters. It is a common on Australasian coasts, including Australia (NSW; SA; Vic; WA and New Zealand. Isolated populations have been currently found in East Asia, including Japan, Korea, and Far East Russia, hence, the species distribution exhibit latitudinally disjunct distribution between East Asia and Australasia.
Ruppia polycarpa is a submerged aquatic herb species in the genus Ruppia found in shallow brackish waters. It is a common submerged herb on Australasian coasts, including Australia and New Zealand.
Sulfitobacter brevis is a species of bacteria isolated from the hypersaline, heliothermal and meromictic Antarctic Ekho Lake. It is Gram-negative, aerobic, pointed and budding, with type strain EL-162T.
Leonite is a hydrated double sulfate of magnesium and potassium. It has the formula K2SO4·MgSO4·4H2O. The mineral was named after Leo Strippelmann, who was director of the salt works at Westeregeln in Germany. The mineral is part of the blodite group of hydrated double sulfate minerals.
Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth are environments that share potentially relevant astrobiological conditions with Mars. These include sites that are analogues of potential subsurface habitats, and deep subsurface habitats.
"CandidatusThiodictyon syntrophicum" is a gram-negative bacterium classified within purple sulfur bacteria (PSB). "Ca. T. syntrophicum" grows best under micro-oxic and low light conditions. There has only been one successful enrichment of "Ca. T. syntrophicum"; "Ca. T. syntrophicum" strain Cad16T.
Lake Pikrolimni is an endorheic, alkaline salt lake in Kilkis prefecture, Greece. It is located on the border of the Kilkis and Thessaloniki regional units, about 40 km northwest of Thessaloniki. The lake is hypersaline, has rather shallow waters (0.5–0.7 m) and a shoreline of about 8.5 km. The water surface area shows significant seasonal variation (3.2–4.5 km2) due to evaporation in the summer months, with an average value of 3.7 km2.
