Tracing nanoparticle-fuelled co-mobilization of catalyst metals across Earth's deep-sea redox interfaces to pave the way for habitability detection in Ocean Worlds

Introduction

Redox metals such as Fe, Mo, V, Ni, Cu, and Mn, supplied from deep-sea interfaces, played a pivotal role in the coupled evolution of Earth's biogeochemical cycles and life. Accordingly, future searches for life in Ocean Worlds of the Solar System will greatly benefit from going beyond parameters such as water and organics, and being able to detect signs of subsurface metal catalysis.

Importance of Metal Catalysis

As fundamental metabolism requires metal clusters and nanoparticles, their formation, detection, and link to Earth’s ocean biogeochemical structure can pave the way for inference of metal catalysis from plume ejecta compositions of Ocean Worlds such as Europa and Enceladus.

Project Overview

DeepTrace will advance a ground-breaking mechanistic, analytical, and predictive framework on the nanoparticle-fuelled co-mobilization of catalyst metals across Earth's marine redox interfaces. The key idea is to establish the concept of sub-ocean metal redox catalysis underpinning the ecosystem evolution of Earth’s oceans and use it to explore the habitability of Ocean Worlds.

Methodology

In DeepTrace, we will conduct multidisciplinary sea expeditions to unravel how the six redox metals co-mobilize by studying Earth analogues such as deep-sea hydrothermal vents and suboxic/anoxic seas.

Innovative Techniques

Integrating state-of-the-art methods with emerging innovative approaches such as:

1. Time-of-flight single-particle-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
2. Multi-element detection of nanoparticles

we will advance the detection capabilities of nanoparticles.

Predictive Framework Development

Finally, to build a predictive framework that will enable the estimation of nanoparticle fluxes from deep-sea boundaries and inferring the metabolic potential of Ocean Worlds, we will develop novel biogeochemical models.

Conclusion

DeepTrace will tap the potential of tracing redox metals as one of the best opportunities in the next decade for detecting life in Ocean Worlds, and accelerate improved parametrizations of metal cycles for better prediction of Earth’s marine ecosystems under multi-stressors such as deoxygenation, warming, and biodiversity loss.