Imagine peering into tiny pockets of water trapped inside salt crystals for 250 million years. These microscopic “time capsules” may hold living cells from Earth’s distant past. The Salty project explores these fluid inclusions in Zechstein halite, a massive salt deposits stretching across Europe. The main question we want to answer is: Can life survive for millions of years inside halite?
Salt rocks form when ancient seas evaporate, leaving behind thick layers of halite. Within these crystals, droplets of brine and gas were formed, preserving clues about past climates and possibly microbes. Previous studies suggest these inclusions contain salt-loving (halophilic) organisms, but their abundance, identity, and activity remain a mystery. Our team will combine cutting-edge imaging, DNA sequencing, and long-term cultivation to uncover what’s inside. We want to scan halite samples with X-ray tomography to locate inclusions, use ultra-clean labs and advanced molecular techniques to detect and identify any microbial DNA even from extremely low concentrations and we want to attempt to grow these ancient microbes under controlled conditions, pushing the limits of microbiology with multi-year incubations.
Understanding survival strategies in salt helps us reconstruct Earth’s paleoenvironments, predict how life adapts to increasing salinity under climate change, and even guide the search for life on Mars, where similar salt deposits exist. Beyond that, halophiles produce unique enzymes for biotechnology and influence the safety of underground salt caverns used for energy storage. By revealing the hidden diversity of life in halite, Salty will expand our knowledge of resilience, evolution, and the possibilities for life beyond Earth.
This project is funded via the FRIPRO scheme by the Norwegian Research Council Nr 360360
