New Forms Of Salty Ice Discovered And They Could Be Covering Icy Moons

Researchers report two new types of ice made of salt water. The new ice can only form under high pressure and at cool temperatures but it can remain stable at low pressure. These new substances might be a component in the icy shells of moons such as Europa and Ganymede, and could also be present at the bottom of alien oceans.

The standard crystal that can form out of frozen salty water has a simple structure: Two water molecules per sodium chloride – the chemical name of the standard kitchen salt. But the two new hydrates – the technical name for these substances – have a lot more water than salt. One has 13 molecules of water per sodium chloride and the other one has a whopping 17.

“It’s rare nowadays to have fundamental discoveries in science,”  lead author Baptiste Journaux, from the University of Washington, said in a statement. “Salt and water are very well known at Earth conditions. But beyond that, we’re totally in the dark. And now we have these planetary objects that probably have compounds that are very familiar to us, but in at very exotic conditions. We have to redo all the fundamental mineralogical science that people did in the 1800s, but at high pressure and low temperature. It is an exciting time.”