‘Icicles of Death’ in Polar Oceans May Unlock Secrets to Earth’s Earliest Life

The bizarre phenomenon of brinicles was first recorded by a BBC documentary in 2011. This formation suggested that the first life originated in polar seas with underwater structures called 'brinicles,' or 'icicles of death.' Instead of the common notion that life began in warm and humid climates, the research indicated that the Arctic Ocean's sea ice may have played a key role.

Bruno Escribano and other researchers in the ACS journal wrote, "The origin of life is often proposed to have occurred in a hot environment, like the one found in hydrothermal vents. But there is a different school of thought that presented sea ice as a promoter of the emergence of the first life." They added, "Brine rejection in sea ice produced all the conditions that were considered necessary for life to appear. As brinicles played an important role in the dynamics of brine transport through sea ice, they might also have played a role in this scenario of a cold origin of life, just as hydrothermal vents did in the hot environment theories, and in both instances, chemical garden processes were fundamental."

Knewz.com learned that brinicles were downward-growing, hollow ice tubes formed when brine was pushed out of freezing sea ice. Since they grew downward, when they reached the seabed, it was believed that they spread ice, killing creatures like sea urchins and starfish. Luckily, these brinicles threatened only smaller sea life, not larger animals like seals, whales, or humans diving in cold polar waters. Furthermore, the research suggested that these brinicles could also have helped create conditions for life on other icy planets and moons, like Jupiter's Ganymede and Callisto.

Andrew Thurber, an assistant professor in ocean ecology and biogeochemistry at Oregon State University, explained in an email to HowStuffWorks , "I have seen the aftermath in person (the pools of dead animals) and videos of them getting caught." He added, "They were a very localized problem for animals. They tended to occur only in the shallows, and the species that lived there tended to be both abundant and common. So while small patches of dead animals resulted from them, overall they likely played a minor, if any, role in the population size of those animals."

Since brine was heavier than the surrounding water, it sank to the ocean floor and froze the fresher water it touched. This was why the brinicles in the video were shown moving downward. However, these brinicles could grow several meters each day and spread out on the seafloor, creating a different ice formation called anchor ice, as reported by UNILAD . According to a study in the Journal of Glaciology, experts observed some brinicles in Antarctica reaching lengths of up to six meters.

Besides their various names, the phenomenon was popularly known as "icy fingers of death," demonstrating its complex interactions with ocean life. They were a perfect example of the beauty and dangers of nature in one fascinating process. They further reminded researchers not to forget that even in the remotest parts, mystifying wonders and mysteries existed.