Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites?
Abstract— One of the five lines of evidence used by McKay et al. (1996) for relic life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 was the presence of objects thought to be microfossils. These ovoid and elongated forms are similar to structures found in terrestrial rocks and described as “nanob...
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crwiley:10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x 2024-04-28T08:00:03+00:00 Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? SEARS, DEREK W. G. KRAL, TIMOTHY A. 1998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Meteoritics & Planetary Science volume 33, issue 4, page 791-794 ISSN 1086-9379 1945-5100 Space and Planetary Science Geophysics journal-article 1998 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x 2024-04-02T08:46:38Z Abstract— One of the five lines of evidence used by McKay et al. (1996) for relic life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 was the presence of objects thought to be microfossils. These ovoid and elongated forms are similar to structures found in terrestrial rocks and described as “nanobacteria” (Folk, 1993; McBride et al , 1994). Using the same procedures and apparatus as McKay et al. (1996), we have found structures on internal fracture surfaces of lunar meteorites that cannot be distinguished from the objects described on similar surfaces in ALH 84001. The lunar surface is currently a sterile environment and probably always has been. However, the lunar and Martian meteorites share a common terrestrial history, which includes many thousands of years of exposure to Antarctic weathering. Although we do not know the origin of these ovoid and elongated forms, we suggest that their presence on lunar meteorites indicates that the objects described by McKay et al. (1996) are not of Martian biological origin. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Wiley Online Library Meteoritics & Planetary Science 33 4 791 794 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Space and Planetary Science Geophysics |
spellingShingle |
Space and Planetary Science Geophysics SEARS, DEREK W. G. KRAL, TIMOTHY A. Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
topic_facet |
Space and Planetary Science Geophysics |
description |
Abstract— One of the five lines of evidence used by McKay et al. (1996) for relic life in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001 was the presence of objects thought to be microfossils. These ovoid and elongated forms are similar to structures found in terrestrial rocks and described as “nanobacteria” (Folk, 1993; McBride et al , 1994). Using the same procedures and apparatus as McKay et al. (1996), we have found structures on internal fracture surfaces of lunar meteorites that cannot be distinguished from the objects described on similar surfaces in ALH 84001. The lunar surface is currently a sterile environment and probably always has been. However, the lunar and Martian meteorites share a common terrestrial history, which includes many thousands of years of exposure to Antarctic weathering. Although we do not know the origin of these ovoid and elongated forms, we suggest that their presence on lunar meteorites indicates that the objects described by McKay et al. (1996) are not of Martian biological origin. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
SEARS, DEREK W. G. KRAL, TIMOTHY A. |
author_facet |
SEARS, DEREK W. G. KRAL, TIMOTHY A. |
author_sort |
SEARS, DEREK W. G. |
title |
Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
title_short |
Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
title_full |
Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
title_fullStr |
Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
title_sort |
martian “microfossils” in lunar meteorites? |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science volume 33, issue 4, page 791-794 ISSN 1086-9379 1945-5100 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.1998.tb01685.x |
container_title |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science |
container_volume |
33 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
791 |
op_container_end_page |
794 |
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1797572449112424448 |