A paper on salts in HP ices with implications for habitability of icy exoplanets

With Jean-Alexis and Razvan, we published a paper in Nature Communications about the solubility of salts in HP ices. We show, using first-principles simulations, that up to 2.5 wt% NaCl can be dissolved in dense water ice at interior conditions of water-rich super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Using scaling laws for convection in such layers, we show that significant transfer of salts can occur between the rocky cores and the overlying ocean, which should help for their habitability.

Full citation:

Hernandez, J.-A., Caracas, R., & Labrosse, S. (2022). Stability of high-temperature salty ice suggests electrolyte permeability in water-rich exoplanet icy mantles. Nature Communications, 13(1), 3303.

Available on the journals website