Hot Pot Detail - Evidence of Quaternary Faulting
Compilation of published data, field observations and photo interpretation relevant to Quaternary faulting at Hot Pot.
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Results for “Hot Pot”
Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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Hot Pot Regional Geologic and Surface Feature Map
This archive contains an ArcGIS map package file that includes a relief base with the northern Nevada Hot Pot project area, generalized geology, selected mines, and major topographic features. Also included is a metadata file containing map features and their description.
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Hot Pot Complete Bouguer Gravity Map
Contoured Bouguer gravity survey with lease block outline in 2010 and location of hot springs.
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Hot Pot Fault Summary
Compilation of faults interpreted from seismic reflection survey and from field observations.
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Hot Pot Mercury Concentration Map
Location of sample points and analytical results for mercury concentrations from a soil survey.
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Hot Pot Contoured Temperature Gradient Map
Temperature gradient contours derived from Oski temperature gradient hole program and from earlier published information.
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Hot Pot Field Observations
Map of field observations including depressions, springs, evidence of former springs, travertine terraces and vegetation patterns. Map also contains interpretation of possible spring alignments.
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Phototrophs in high-iron-concentration microbial mats: physiological ecology of phototrophs in an iron-depositing hot spring
At Chocolate Pots Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park the source waters have a pH near neutral, contain high concentrations of reduced iron, and lack sulfide. An iron formation that is associated with cyanobacterial mats is actively deposited. The uptake of [(14)C]bicarbonate was used to assess the impact of ferrous iron on photosynthesis in this environment. Photoautotrophy in some of the mats was stimulated by ferrous iron (1.0 mM). Microelectrodes were used to determine the impact of photosynthetic activity on the oxygen content and the pH in the mat and sediment microenvironments. Photosynthesis increased the oxygen concentration to 200% of air saturation levels in the top millimeter of the mats. The oxygen concentration decreased with depth and in the dark. Light-dependent increases in pH were observed. The penetration of light in the mats and in the sediments was determined. Visible radiation was rapidly attenuated in the top 2 mm of the iron-rich mats. Near-infrared radiation penetrated deeper. Iron was totally oxidized in the top few millimeters, but reduced iron was detected at greater depths. By increasing the pH and the oxygen concentration in the surface sediments, the cyanobacteria could potentially increase the rate of iron oxidation in situ. This high-iron-content hot spring provides a suitable model for studying the interactions of microbial photosynthesis and iron deposition and the role of photosynthesis in microbial iron cycling. This model may help clarify the potential role of photosynthesis in the deposition of Precambrian banded iron formations.
NASA Discipline Exobiology↗
Location Map
Map file package containing shaded relief base with Hot Pot project area, major roads, railroads, and rivers. The inset map shows regional Paleozoic structural elements.
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Considerations on Terrestrial Iron Depositing Analogs to Earliest Mars
Iron oxide and hydroxide minerals, including hematite, can mineralize and preservemicrofossils and physical biomarkers (Allen at al., 2004). Preserved remnants of phototrophic microorganisms are recognized as biosignatures of past life on Earth (Schopf, 2006). To date, two types of surface iron depositing environments have been studied as analogs to possible habitable environments on earliest Mars: the highly acidified Rio Tinto River (Iberian Belt, Spain) [Gomez Ortis et al., 2007], and the nearneutral iron depositing Chocolate Pots Hot Spring (Yellowstone National Park, US) [Parenteau at al., 2005]. While phototrophs in the Rio Tinto are only represented by eukaryotic algae (Amaral Zettler et all., 2002), Chocolate Pots is mainly populated with cyanobacteria (Pierson et all., 2000; Brown et all., 2007). Which of these environments is the closer analog to a potentially habitable early Mars? Paleobiological data, combined with recent "tree of life" interpretations, suggest that phototrophic eukaryotes evolved not earlier than 2.5 - 2.8 b.y. after Earth s accretion (4.6 b.y.), while cyanobacteria and /or their iron-tolerant predecessors evolved between 1 - 1.5 b.y. after accretion (Brown et al., 2007). Lindsay and Brasier (2002) postulated that microbial life on Mars surface could have lasted no more than 1-1.5 b.y. after Mars accretion (also 4.6 b.y.). Recent multispectral mapping of Mars suggests that near-neutral wet environments prevailed at approximately this time (Bibring, et al., 2006). Thus, near-neutral iron depositing hot springs such as Chocolate Pots Hot Spring seem to be the more likely habitable analogs for earliest Mars.
Brown, Igor I.↗
Production and Early Preservation of Lipid Biomarkers in Iron Hot Springs
The bicarbonate-buffered anoxic vent waters at Chocolate Pots hot springs in Yellowstone National Park are 51–54°C, pH 5.5–6.0, and are very high in dissolved Fe(II) at 5.8–5.9 mg/L. The aqueous Fe(II) is oxidized by a combination of biotic and abiotic mechanisms and precipitated as primary siliceous nanophase iron oxyhydroxides (ferrihydrite). Four distinct prokaryotic photosynthetic microbial mat types grow on top of these iron deposits. Lipids were used to characterize the community composition of the microbial mats, link source organisms to geologically significant biomarkers, and investigate how iron mineralization degrades the lipid signature of the community. The phospholipid and glycolipid fatty acid profiles of the highest-temperature mats indicate that they are dominated by cyanobacteria and green nonsulfur filamentous anoxygenic phototrophs (FAPs). Diagnostic lipid biomarkers of the cyanobacteria include midchain branched mono- and dimethylalkanes and, most notably, 2-methylbacteriohopanepolyol. Diagnostic lipid biomarkers of the FAPs (Chloroflexus and Roseiflexus spp.) include wax esters and a long-chain tri-unsaturated alkene. Surprisingly, the lipid biomarkers resisted the earliest stages of microbial degradation and diagenesis to survive in the iron oxides beneath the mats. Understanding the potential of particular sedimentary environments to capture and preserve fossil biosignatures is of vital importance in the selection of the best landing sites for future astrobiological missions to Mars. Finally, this study explores the nature of organic degradation processes in moderately thermal Fe(II)-rich groundwater springs—environmental conditions that have been previously identified as highly relevant for Mars exploration.
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory↗
Proposed Drill Sites
Proposed drill sites for intermediate depth temperature gradient holes and/or deep resource confirmation wells. Temperature gradient contours based on shallow TG program and faults interpreted from seismic reflection survey are shown, as are two faults interpreted by seismic contractor Optim but not by Oski Energy, LLC.
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Preliminary Drill Sites
Preliminary locations for intermediate depth temperature gradient holes and/or resource confirmation wells based on compilation of geological, geophysical and geochemical data prior to carrying out the DOE-funded reflection seismic survey.
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Capsulation of moldings made from silicon ceramic material
Ceramic articles are potted for hot isostatic pressing by porous glass and/or ceramic coating which is sintered to a pressure-tight coating in vacuo. Thus, a powdered SiO2 glass mixture with saturated alcohol sterin is sprayed on a SI3N4 ceramic, dried, introduced into the press which is evacuated to less than 0.013 mbar and heated to approximately 1200 C to drive off the organic binder and leave a powdered glass coating on the ceramic. The coating is sintered by heating to approximately 1200 C for 0.5 to 2 hours and forms a tight gass-impermeable layer. The press is heated to approximately 1700 C at 1000-300 bar and isostatic pressing is performed in the conventional manner.
Rossmann, A.↗
Spectral Modeling of Residual Stress and Stored Elastic Strain Energy in Thermal Barrier Coatings
Solutions to the thermoelastic problem are important for characterizing the response under temperature change of refractory systems. This work extends a spectral fast Fourier transform (FFT) technique to analyze the thermoelastic behavior of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs), with the intent of probing the local origins of failure in TBCs. The thermoelastic FFT (teFFT) approach allows for the characterization of local thermal residual stress and strain fields, which constitute the origins of failure in TBC systems. A technique based on statistical extreme value theory known as peaks-over-threshold (POT) is developed to quantify the extreme values ("hot spots") of stored elastic strain energy (i.e., elastic energy density, or EED). The resolution dependence of the teFFT method is assessed through a sensitivity study of the extreme values in EED. The sensitivity study is performed both for the local (point-by-point) eld distributions as well as the grain scale eld distributions. A convergence behavior to a particular distribution shape is demonstrated for the local elds. The grain scale fields are shown to exhibit a possible convergence to a maximum level of EED. To apply the teFFT method to TBC systems, 3D synthetic microstructures are created to approximate actual TBC microstructures. The morphology of the grains in each constituent layer as well as the texture is controlled. A variety of TBC materials, including industry standard materials and potential future materials, are analyzed using the teFFT. The resulting hot spots are quantified using the POT approach. A correlation between hot spots in EED and interface rumpling between constituent layers is demonstrated, particularly for the interface between the bond coat (BC) and the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer.
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Siderophilic Cyanobacteria for the Development of Extraterrestrial Photoautotrophic Biotechnologies
In-situ production of consumables (mainly oxygen) using local resources (In-Situ Resource Utilization-ISRU) will significantly facilitate current plans for human exploration and settlement of the solar system, starting with the Moon. With few exceptions, nearly all technologies developed to date have employed an approach based on inorganic chemistry. None of these technologies include concepts for integrating the ISRU system with a bioregenerative life support system and a food production system. Therefore, a new concept based on the cultivation of cyanobacteria (CB) in semi-closed biogeoreactor, linking ISRU, a biological life support system, and food production, has been proposed. The key feature of the biogeoreactor is to use lithotrophic CB to extract many needed elements such as Fe directly from the dissolved regolith and direct them to any technological loop at an extraterrestrial outpost. Our studies showed that siderophilic (Fe-loving) CB are capable to corrode lunar regolith stimulants because they secrete chelating agents and can tolerate [Fe] up to 1 mM. However, lunar and Martian environments are very hostile (very high UV and gamma-radiation, extreme temperatures, deficit of water). Thus, the selection of CB species with high potential for extraterrestrial biotechnologies that may be utilized in 15 years must be sponsored by NASA as soon as possible. The study of the genomes of candidate CB species and the metagenomes of the terrestrial environments which they inhabit is critical to make this decision. Here we provide preliminary results about peculiarities of the genomes of siderophilic CB revealed by analyzing the genome of siderophilic cyanobacterium JSC-1 and the metagenome of iron depositing hot spring (IDHS) Chocolate Pots (Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, USA). It has been found that IDHS are richer with ferrous iron than the majority of hot springs around the world. Fe2+ is known to increase the magnitude of oxidative stress in prokaryotes through so called Fenton reaction. It is not surprising therefore that the CB inhabiting IDHS have larger sets of the proteins involved in the maintenance of Fe homeostasis and oxidative stress protection than non-siderophilic CB. This finding combined with our earlier results about the ability of some siderophilic CB to utilize chemical elements released from analogs of lunar and Martian regolith make them the most advanced candidates to be employed in advanced extraterrestrial biotechnologies.
Brown, I. I.↗
Metagenomic Study of Iron Homeostasis in Iron Depositing Hot Spring Cyanobacterial Community
Introduction: It is not clear how an iron-rich thermal hydrosphere could be hospitable to cyanobacteria, since reduced iron appears to stimulate oxidative stress in all domains of life and particularly in oxygenic phototrophs. Therefore, metagenomic study of cyanobacterial community in iron-depositing hot springs may help elucidate how oxygenic prokaryotes can withstand the extremely high concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by interaction between environmental Fe2+ and O2. Method: Anchor proteins from various species of cyanobacteria and some anoxygenic phototrophs were selected on the basis of their hypothetical role in Fe homeostasis and the suppression of oxidative stress and were BLASTed against the metagenomes of iron-depositing Chocolate Pots and freshwater Mushroom hot springs. Results: BLASTing proteins hypothesized to be involved in Fe homeostasis against the microbiomes from the two springs revealed that iron-depositing hot spring has a greater abundance of defensive proteins such as bacterioferritin comigratory protein (Bcp) and DNA-binding Ferritin like protein (Dps) than a fresh-water hot spring. One may speculate that the abundance of Bcp and Dps in an iron-depositing hot spring is connected to the need to suppress oxidative stress in bacteria inhabiting environments with high Fe2+ concnetration. In both springs, Bcp and Dps are concentrated within the cyanobacterial fractions of the microbial community (regardless of abundance). Fe3+ siderophore transport (from the transport system permease protein query) may be less essential to the microbial community of CP because of the high [Fe]. Conclusion: Further research is needed to confirm that these proteins are unique to photoautotrophs such as those living in iron-depositing hot spring.
Brown, I.↗
The intrinsic electrochemical behavior of layered Cu 2 WSe 4 nanoparticles
Nanoplates of Cu 2 WSe 4 (~50 nm) were synthesized via a hot-injection method by one-pot selenation of WCl 6 and Cu(acac) 2 . This synthetic route provided another perspective towards the intrinsic electrochemical properties of Cu 2 MSe 4 (M = Mo or W), where their nanoparticles were previously synthesized via a metathesis route. In conclusion, cations-dependent cathodic events and surface activation anodic events were identified by cyclic voltammetry in acetonitrile.
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