Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars
The martian surface cannot sustain liquid water today, but there is evidence water was present during the Noachian era. The transition of the martian climate into the Hesperian would have resulted in saline and sulfuric waters. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a chemistry like these pr...
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ftopenunivgb:oai:oro.open.ac.uk:72228 2023-06-11T04:09:49+02:00 Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars Macey, Michael C. Fox-Powell, Mark Ramkissoon, Nisha K. Stephens, Ben P. Barton, Tim Schwenzer, Susanne P. Pearson, Victoria K. Cousins, Claire R. Olsson-Francis, Karen 2020 application/pdf https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/ https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/1/AAM%202020%20Macey.pdf unknown https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/1/AAM%202020%20Macey.pdf Macey, Michael C. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/mm34528.html>; Fox-Powell, Mark <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/mgfp3.html>; Ramkissoon, Nisha K. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/nr4892.html>; Stephens, Ben P. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/bs5968.html>; Barton, Tim <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/tjb457.html>; Schwenzer, Susanne P. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ss24846.html>; Pearson, Victoria K. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/vkp23.html>; Cousins, Claire R. and Olsson-Francis, Karen <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ko627.html> (2020). Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars. In: Astrobiology Australasia Meeting, 9-11 Sep 2020, Online. Conference or Workshop Item Public PeerReviewed 2020 ftopenunivgb 2023-05-28T06:04:08Z The martian surface cannot sustain liquid water today, but there is evidence water was present during the Noachian era. The transition of the martian climate into the Hesperian would have resulted in saline and sulfuric waters. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a chemistry like these proposed waters can be used to develop an understanding of organisms that could have persisted. Here we present the chemistry and microbiome of Colour Peak, a sulfidic and saline spring system located within the Canadian High Arctic. Nucleic acids were extracted from the microbes in the sediments and the microbiome was characterised by the amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. The elemental composition of the fluids and sediment was determined by ICP-OES and compared with brines determined from the chemistry of the “Rocknest” sample at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater (Mars) by thermochemical modelling. Gibbs energy values were calculated from this fluid chemistry to identify potentially viable metabolisms. Analysis of the chemistries of the Colour Peak fluids confirmed a composition like the thermochemically modelled fluid, providing justification for the classification of Colour Peak as an appropriate analogue environment to investigate the habitability of former martian waters. Profiling of the Colour Peak microbial community revealed domination by bacteria associated with oxidation of reduced sulfur species and carbon dioxide fixation. Gibbs energy values calculated using the modelled martian fluid chemistry demonstrated that oxidation of reduced sulfur species was also viable in this chemical environment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These results demonstrate microbial sulfide oxidation is thermodynamically viable using both modelled and environmental proxies for former martian aqueous environments. This study highlights that metabolisms utilising the oxidation of reduced sulfur species could have been thermodynamically viable in ancient martian aqueous environments. Further work is needed ... Conference Object Arctic Yellowknife The Open University: Open Research Online (ORO) Arctic Colour Peak ENVELOPE(-91.284,-91.284,79.469,79.469) Yellowknife Yellowknife Bay ENVELOPE(-114.336,-114.336,62.367,62.367) |
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Open Polar |
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The Open University: Open Research Online (ORO) |
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ftopenunivgb |
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unknown |
description |
The martian surface cannot sustain liquid water today, but there is evidence water was present during the Noachian era. The transition of the martian climate into the Hesperian would have resulted in saline and sulfuric waters. Terrestrial analogue environments that possess a chemistry like these proposed waters can be used to develop an understanding of organisms that could have persisted. Here we present the chemistry and microbiome of Colour Peak, a sulfidic and saline spring system located within the Canadian High Arctic. Nucleic acids were extracted from the microbes in the sediments and the microbiome was characterised by the amplification and sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons. The elemental composition of the fluids and sediment was determined by ICP-OES and compared with brines determined from the chemistry of the “Rocknest” sample at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater (Mars) by thermochemical modelling. Gibbs energy values were calculated from this fluid chemistry to identify potentially viable metabolisms. Analysis of the chemistries of the Colour Peak fluids confirmed a composition like the thermochemically modelled fluid, providing justification for the classification of Colour Peak as an appropriate analogue environment to investigate the habitability of former martian waters. Profiling of the Colour Peak microbial community revealed domination by bacteria associated with oxidation of reduced sulfur species and carbon dioxide fixation. Gibbs energy values calculated using the modelled martian fluid chemistry demonstrated that oxidation of reduced sulfur species was also viable in this chemical environment under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These results demonstrate microbial sulfide oxidation is thermodynamically viable using both modelled and environmental proxies for former martian aqueous environments. This study highlights that metabolisms utilising the oxidation of reduced sulfur species could have been thermodynamically viable in ancient martian aqueous environments. Further work is needed ... |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Macey, Michael C. Fox-Powell, Mark Ramkissoon, Nisha K. Stephens, Ben P. Barton, Tim Schwenzer, Susanne P. Pearson, Victoria K. Cousins, Claire R. Olsson-Francis, Karen |
spellingShingle |
Macey, Michael C. Fox-Powell, Mark Ramkissoon, Nisha K. Stephens, Ben P. Barton, Tim Schwenzer, Susanne P. Pearson, Victoria K. Cousins, Claire R. Olsson-Francis, Karen Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
author_facet |
Macey, Michael C. Fox-Powell, Mark Ramkissoon, Nisha K. Stephens, Ben P. Barton, Tim Schwenzer, Susanne P. Pearson, Victoria K. Cousins, Claire R. Olsson-Francis, Karen |
author_sort |
Macey, Michael C. |
title |
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
title_short |
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
title_full |
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
title_fullStr |
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
title_full_unstemmed |
Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars |
title_sort |
colour peak: an analogue environment for late noachian mars |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/ https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/1/AAM%202020%20Macey.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-91.284,-91.284,79.469,79.469) ENVELOPE(-114.336,-114.336,62.367,62.367) |
geographic |
Arctic Colour Peak Yellowknife Yellowknife Bay |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Colour Peak Yellowknife Yellowknife Bay |
genre |
Arctic Yellowknife |
genre_facet |
Arctic Yellowknife |
op_relation |
https://oro.open.ac.uk/72228/1/AAM%202020%20Macey.pdf Macey, Michael C. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/mm34528.html>; Fox-Powell, Mark <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/mgfp3.html>; Ramkissoon, Nisha K. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/nr4892.html>; Stephens, Ben P. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/bs5968.html>; Barton, Tim <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/tjb457.html>; Schwenzer, Susanne P. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ss24846.html>; Pearson, Victoria K. <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/vkp23.html>; Cousins, Claire R. and Olsson-Francis, Karen <http://oro.open.ac.uk/view/person/ko627.html> (2020). Colour Peak: An analogue environment for late Noachian Mars. In: Astrobiology Australasia Meeting, 9-11 Sep 2020, Online. |
_version_ |
1768383820083494912 |