ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Crystal structure of a metastable hydrate of NaCl relevant to cryovolcanism at icy moons

Abstract: We have recently discovered and reported a new low-temperature metastable crystalline hydrate in the NaCl-H(D)2O system relevant to cryovolcanic processes on icy moons. Now that our work is published and publicly available, the race is on to solve the crystal structure of the new hydrate. With this experimental time, we plan to collect the one outstanding dataset that we need to achieve this. A simple experiment requiring less than 1 day of Polaris time will provide the final data required. Rapid access is essential to ensure ISIS data leads to this important advance. Because this is the first new NaCl hydrate reported at ambient pressures for over 200 years, and because such phases may be produced in cryovolcanic eruptions at icy moons, we anticipate our findings will have broad impact across a range of fields from physical chemistry to planetary science and astrobiology.

Principal Investigator: Dr Mark Fox-Powell
Experimenter: Dr Rachael Hamp
Local Contact: Professor Paul Henry
Experimenter: Professor Christoph Salzmann

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2500086

ISIS Experiment Number: RB2500086

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Mark Fox-Powell et al; (2025): Crystal structure of a metastable hydrate of NaCl relevant to cryovolcanism at icy moons, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB2500086

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.