As waters warm, scientists are working fast to tease secrets from Greenland’s unique underwater mineral columns

The high-alkaline, low-temperature conditions of the Ikka columns has created a unique habitat for bacteria.

Known to occur just a few places in nature, the mineral ikaite forms only under very specific conditions, when a carbonate and a source of calcium combine under specific conditions at low temperatures. To date, most deposits of ikaite have been found in high-latitude marine sediments, in places such as Antarctica, the Sea of Okhotsk and in the waters off British Columbia.