Cluster formation and self-assembly in stratified fluids: a novel mechanism for particulate aggregation

An extremely broad and important class of phenomena in nature involves the settling and aggregation of matter under gravitation in fluid systems. Some examples include: sedimenting marine snow particles in lakes and oceans (central to carbon sequestration), dense microplastics in the oceans (which impact ocean ecology and the food chain), and even iron snow on Mercury (conjectured as its magnetic field source). These fluid systems all have stable density stratification, which is known to trap particulates through upper lightweight fluid coating the sinking particles, thus providing transient buoyancy. The current understanding of aggregation of such trapped matter involves collisions (due to Brownian motion, shear, and differential settling) and adhesion. Here, we observe and rationalize a new fundamental effective attractive mechanism by which particles suspended within stratification may self-assemble and form large aggregates without need for short range binding effects. This phenomenon arises through a complex interplay involving solute diffusion, impermeable boundaries, and aggregate geometry, which produces toroidal flows. We show that these toroidal flows yield attractive horizontal forces between particles. We observe that many particles demonstrate a collective motion revealing a system which self-assembles, appearing to solve jigsaw-like puzzles on its way to organizing into a disc-like shape, with the effective force increasing as the collective disc radius grows. Control experiments with two objects isolate the individual dynamics, which are quantitatively predicted through numerical integration of the underlying equations of motion. This new mechanism may be an important process in formation of marine snow aggregates and distribution of phytoplankton in lakes and oceans. Further, it potentially provides a new mechanism for general sorting and packing of layered material.