TSI Seminar

Saline Perennial Springs in the Canadian High Arctic: Why We Still Study Them

Chris Omelon

Queen's University

Since Roland Beschel’s first written documentation of “Sulphur Springs at Gypsum Hill” in 1963, groundwater springs on Axel Heiberg Island have remained a scientific enigma: they flow year-round despite polar desert conditions and a permafrost-dominated landscape; they host microbial communities despite the waters being hypersaline; and they precipitate unique mineral assemblages, in some cases resembling ancient hydrothermal activity. These waters, their inhabitants, and associated minerals have been explored in detail over the past 25 years and have received substantial interest as analogues for Mars. Three study sites dominate the literature: Expedition Diapir, Colour Diapir, and Wolf Diapir. While all are saline and perennial, the spring waters exhibit different geochemical and microbial characteristics, which can vary across a single site. The fact that the springs are associated with diapirs, or “salt domes” from the Carboniferous Period suggests an interrelationship, however, the origins of the springs and how these waters reach the surface remains unclear. This is in large part due to the complex geology of western Axel Heiberg Island that strongly influences both surficial processes and subsurface thermal and hydrogeological conditions. To better constrain how and why these perennial springs exist will require interdisciplinary approaches that carefully consider a range of plausible explanations that challenges our traditional understanding of groundwater activity in the Canadian high Arctic.