Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars
Abstract Surface mineral crusts on Earth are highly diverse and usually, contain microbial life. Crusts constitute an attractive target to search for life: they require water for their formation, they efficiently entrap organic matter and are relatively easy to sample and process. They hold a record...
Published in: | International Journal of Astrobiology |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1473550418000034 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1473550418000034 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s1473550418000034 2024-05-12T08:00:13+00:00 Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars Brolly, Connor Parnell, John Bowden, Stephen 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1473550418000034 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1473550418000034 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ International Journal of Astrobiology volume 18, issue 2, page 91-101 ISSN 1473-5504 1475-3006 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2018 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s1473550418000034 2024-04-18T06:54:07Z Abstract Surface mineral crusts on Earth are highly diverse and usually, contain microbial life. Crusts constitute an attractive target to search for life: they require water for their formation, they efficiently entrap organic matter and are relatively easy to sample and process. They hold a record of life in the form of microbial remains, biomolecules and carbon isotope composition. A miniaturized Raman spectrometer is included in the ExoMars 2020 payload as it is sensitive to a range of photosynthetic pigments. Samples from the Haughton Impact Structure, Canadian High Arctic and others, shows the preservation of pigments in a range of crust types, especially supra-permafrost carbonate crusts and cryptogamic crusts. The Raman spectral signatures of these crusts are shown along with biomarker analysis to showcase these techniques prior to the ExoMars 2020 mission. Carotenoids and other photoprotective microbial pigments are identified in the Haughton surface crusts using Raman spectroscopy. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses show a distribution of fatty acids which are most likely from a cyanobacterial source. The successful demonstration of these analyses in the Haughton Impact structure shows the biosignature of surface mineral crusts can be easily extracted and provides an excellent target for sampling evidence of life on Mars. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic permafrost Cambridge University Press Arctic International Journal of Astrobiology 18 2 91 101 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
spellingShingle |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Brolly, Connor Parnell, John Bowden, Stephen Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
topic_facet |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous) Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Surface mineral crusts on Earth are highly diverse and usually, contain microbial life. Crusts constitute an attractive target to search for life: they require water for their formation, they efficiently entrap organic matter and are relatively easy to sample and process. They hold a record of life in the form of microbial remains, biomolecules and carbon isotope composition. A miniaturized Raman spectrometer is included in the ExoMars 2020 payload as it is sensitive to a range of photosynthetic pigments. Samples from the Haughton Impact Structure, Canadian High Arctic and others, shows the preservation of pigments in a range of crust types, especially supra-permafrost carbonate crusts and cryptogamic crusts. The Raman spectral signatures of these crusts are shown along with biomarker analysis to showcase these techniques prior to the ExoMars 2020 mission. Carotenoids and other photoprotective microbial pigments are identified in the Haughton surface crusts using Raman spectroscopy. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses show a distribution of fatty acids which are most likely from a cyanobacterial source. The successful demonstration of these analyses in the Haughton Impact structure shows the biosignature of surface mineral crusts can be easily extracted and provides an excellent target for sampling evidence of life on Mars. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brolly, Connor Parnell, John Bowden, Stephen |
author_facet |
Brolly, Connor Parnell, John Bowden, Stephen |
author_sort |
Brolly, Connor |
title |
Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
title_short |
Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
title_full |
Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
title_fullStr |
Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
title_full_unstemmed |
Surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on Mars |
title_sort |
surface mineral crusts: a potential strategy for sampling for evidence of life on mars |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1473550418000034 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1473550418000034 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic permafrost |
op_source |
International Journal of Astrobiology volume 18, issue 2, page 91-101 ISSN 1473-5504 1475-3006 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s1473550418000034 |
container_title |
International Journal of Astrobiology |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
91 |
op_container_end_page |
101 |
_version_ |
1798841975450894336 |