Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration
In this work, we have analyzed natural samples collected at three hydrothermal areas of Iceland by Raman spectroscopy. The studied high-latitude regions are considered environmentally and mineralogically appropriate Martian analogues since they are rich in weathered basalts that have been altered by...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8979959 2023-05-15T16:51:13+02:00 Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration Muñoz-Iglesias, Victoria Sánchez-García, Laura Carrizo, Daniel Molina, Antonio Fernández-Sampedro, Maite Prieto-Ballesteros, Olga 2022-04-04 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8979959/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35379897 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x en eng Nature Publishing Group UK http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8979959/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35379897 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x © The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . CC-BY Sci Rep Article Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x 2022-04-10T00:41:44Z In this work, we have analyzed natural samples collected at three hydrothermal areas of Iceland by Raman spectroscopy. The studied high-latitude regions are considered environmentally and mineralogically appropriate Martian analogues since they are rich in weathered basalts that have been altered by hydrothermalism to mineral phases such as silica, clay minerals, sulfates, oxides, and sulfur. The main objective of this work was to assess the relation of the spectroscopic signatures of alteration to hydrothermal processes and biomediation, considering previous studies focused on the detection of lipid biomarkers in the same samples. The recorded Raman spectra, taken with optical parameters similar to the ExoMars 2022 Raman spectrometer, showed structural modifications in all secondary minerals in the form of peak shifts (in the case of sulfur and clay minerals), changes in the relative ratio intensity (in anatase) and/or shape broadening (in sulfates and hematite). These results reveal the suitability of Raman spectroscopy to examine areas rich in water-altered minerals, where a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases can co-exist. The detection of silica is singularly interesting since, on the one hand, it can imply the past existence of hydrothermal hot springs rich in nutrient and redox gradients and, on the other hand, provides excellent matrix for biosignature preservation. The data can be helpful as an astrobiological database for the forthcoming missions to Mars, where potential upwelling groundwater systems could have altered the mineral phases in a similar way to that observed in this work. Text Iceland PubMed Central (PMC) Scientific Reports 12 1 |
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Article Muñoz-Iglesias, Victoria Sánchez-García, Laura Carrizo, Daniel Molina, Antonio Fernández-Sampedro, Maite Prieto-Ballesteros, Olga Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
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In this work, we have analyzed natural samples collected at three hydrothermal areas of Iceland by Raman spectroscopy. The studied high-latitude regions are considered environmentally and mineralogically appropriate Martian analogues since they are rich in weathered basalts that have been altered by hydrothermalism to mineral phases such as silica, clay minerals, sulfates, oxides, and sulfur. The main objective of this work was to assess the relation of the spectroscopic signatures of alteration to hydrothermal processes and biomediation, considering previous studies focused on the detection of lipid biomarkers in the same samples. The recorded Raman spectra, taken with optical parameters similar to the ExoMars 2022 Raman spectrometer, showed structural modifications in all secondary minerals in the form of peak shifts (in the case of sulfur and clay minerals), changes in the relative ratio intensity (in anatase) and/or shape broadening (in sulfates and hematite). These results reveal the suitability of Raman spectroscopy to examine areas rich in water-altered minerals, where a mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases can co-exist. The detection of silica is singularly interesting since, on the one hand, it can imply the past existence of hydrothermal hot springs rich in nutrient and redox gradients and, on the other hand, provides excellent matrix for biosignature preservation. The data can be helpful as an astrobiological database for the forthcoming missions to Mars, where potential upwelling groundwater systems could have altered the mineral phases in a similar way to that observed in this work. |
format |
Text |
author |
Muñoz-Iglesias, Victoria Sánchez-García, Laura Carrizo, Daniel Molina, Antonio Fernández-Sampedro, Maite Prieto-Ballesteros, Olga |
author_facet |
Muñoz-Iglesias, Victoria Sánchez-García, Laura Carrizo, Daniel Molina, Antonio Fernández-Sampedro, Maite Prieto-Ballesteros, Olga |
author_sort |
Muñoz-Iglesias, Victoria |
title |
Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
title_short |
Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
title_full |
Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
title_fullStr |
Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
title_full_unstemmed |
Raman spectroscopic peculiarities of Icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for Mars exploration |
title_sort |
raman spectroscopic peculiarities of icelandic poorly crystalline minerals and their implications for mars exploration |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group UK |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8979959/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35379897 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x |
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Iceland |
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Iceland |
op_source |
Sci Rep |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8979959/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35379897 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2022 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-09684-x |
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