Formation and loss of metastable brucite: does Fe(II)-bearing brucite support microbial activity in serpentinizing ecosystems?

Abstract

Ultramafic rocks undergo successive stages of hydration and oxidation during water/rock interaction, giving rise to secondary minerals such as brucite, serpentine, magnetite and the production of H 2(g) . Ferroan brucite ( M g x Fe ( 1 − x ) 2 + ( OH ) 2 ) often forms under low water/rock ratios early during the ‘serpentinization’ process. The formation of ferroan brucite sequesters Fe(II) and suppresses the production of H 2 , thereby limiting the flux of reductants suitable for sustaining microbial metabolism. Yet ferroan brucite is a relatively soluble mineral ‘reservoir’ for reactive Fe(II). Brucite is often metastable and can be lost at later stages of peridotite hydration when there is a significant increase in the water/rock ratio or the activity of SiO 2 or CO 2 . The Fe(OH) 2 component of brucite has the thermodynamic potential to reduce most aqueous oxidants. Therefore, ferroan brucite may reduce water and/or dissolved carbon, nitrogen and sulfur species, while the Fe(II) is converted into more stable secondary minerals such as Fe(II/III)-oxides and hydroxides (e.g. green-rust, magnetite, iowaite and pyroaurite) and ferric serpentine. The reactivity of ferroan brucite, and the associated rate of Fe solubilization and oxidation in subsurface fluids, could be a key regulator on the rate of electron transfer from serpentinites to the rock-hosted biosphere. Aqueous alteration of ferroan brucite may significantly modulate the H 2 activity in fluids circulating within partially serpentinized rocks, and buffer H 2 as it is lost by advection or in situ consumption by a hydrogenotrophic microbial community. Moreover, there may be microbial organisms that specifically colonize and use ferroan brucite as an electron donor for their metabolism. The energy fluxes sustained by localized brucite oxidation may often be sufficiently large to sustain abundant microbial communities; water/rock reaction zones where brucite is consumed could serve as environments to search for extant or fossil serpentinite-hosted life. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Serpentinite in the Earth System’.