The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms
Meteorite impacts, one of the most ubiquitous processes in the solar system, have the ability to destroy as well as create habitats for life. The impact process can increase the translucency and porosity of the target substrate, as well as mobilize biologically relevant elements within the substrate...
Published in: | Meteoritics & Planetary Science |
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Language: | English |
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John Wiley & Sons
2012
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Online Access: | https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:286967 |
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ftunivqespace:oai:espace.library.uq.edu.au:UQ:286967 2023-05-15T16:00:47+02:00 The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms Pontefract, Alexandra Osinski, Gordon R. Lindgren, Paula Parnell, John Cockell, Charles S. Southam, Gordon 2012-10-01 https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:286967 eng eng John Wiley & Sons doi:10.1111/maps.12004 issn:1086-9379 issn:1945-5100 orcid:0000-0002-8941-1249 Geochemistry & Geophysics 1908 Geophysics 1912 Space and Planetary Science Journal Article 2012 ftunivqespace https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12004 2020-11-09T23:58:53Z Meteorite impacts, one of the most ubiquitous processes in the solar system, have the ability to destroy as well as create habitats for life. The impact process can increase the translucency and porosity of the target substrate, as well as mobilize biologically relevant elements within the substrate. For endolithic organisms, this process has important implications, especially in extreme environments where they are forced to seek refuge in the interior of rocks. Here, we show that unshocked target rocks and rocks that have experienced pressures up to about 80 GPa from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canada, possess a small, but discernible change in bulk chemistry within the major oxide analysis. However, changes in the distribution of elements did occur with increasing shock level for both the sedimentary and crystalline target. Both the crystalline and sedimentary target rocks contain significant amounts of glasses at higher shock levels (up to about 95% by volume), which would improve the availability of these elements to potential microbial endoliths as glasses are more easily dissolved by organic acids. The implication that impact events do not impoverish their capacity to serve as a “substrate” through volatilization is important with respect to analogous impact structures on Mars. After the deleterious effects of the direct meteorite impact, any microorganisms on Mars would have benefited from the input of heat, the mobilization of a possible frozen groundwater system, as well as increased translucency, porosity, and trace nutrient availability of the target substrate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Devon Island The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace Canada Devon Island ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) Meteoritics & Planetary Science 47 10 1681 1691 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The University of Queensland: UQ eSpace |
op_collection_id |
ftunivqespace |
language |
English |
topic |
Geochemistry & Geophysics 1908 Geophysics 1912 Space and Planetary Science |
spellingShingle |
Geochemistry & Geophysics 1908 Geophysics 1912 Space and Planetary Science Pontefract, Alexandra Osinski, Gordon R. Lindgren, Paula Parnell, John Cockell, Charles S. Southam, Gordon The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
topic_facet |
Geochemistry & Geophysics 1908 Geophysics 1912 Space and Planetary Science |
description |
Meteorite impacts, one of the most ubiquitous processes in the solar system, have the ability to destroy as well as create habitats for life. The impact process can increase the translucency and porosity of the target substrate, as well as mobilize biologically relevant elements within the substrate. For endolithic organisms, this process has important implications, especially in extreme environments where they are forced to seek refuge in the interior of rocks. Here, we show that unshocked target rocks and rocks that have experienced pressures up to about 80 GPa from the Haughton impact structure, Devon Island, Canada, possess a small, but discernible change in bulk chemistry within the major oxide analysis. However, changes in the distribution of elements did occur with increasing shock level for both the sedimentary and crystalline target. Both the crystalline and sedimentary target rocks contain significant amounts of glasses at higher shock levels (up to about 95% by volume), which would improve the availability of these elements to potential microbial endoliths as glasses are more easily dissolved by organic acids. The implication that impact events do not impoverish their capacity to serve as a “substrate” through volatilization is important with respect to analogous impact structures on Mars. After the deleterious effects of the direct meteorite impact, any microorganisms on Mars would have benefited from the input of heat, the mobilization of a possible frozen groundwater system, as well as increased translucency, porosity, and trace nutrient availability of the target substrate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pontefract, Alexandra Osinski, Gordon R. Lindgren, Paula Parnell, John Cockell, Charles S. Southam, Gordon |
author_facet |
Pontefract, Alexandra Osinski, Gordon R. Lindgren, Paula Parnell, John Cockell, Charles S. Southam, Gordon |
author_sort |
Pontefract, Alexandra |
title |
The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
title_short |
The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
title_full |
The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
title_fullStr |
The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
title_full_unstemmed |
The effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
title_sort |
effects of meteorite impacts on the availability of bioessential elements for endolithic organisms |
publisher |
John Wiley & Sons |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:286967 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-88.000,-88.000,75.252,75.252) |
geographic |
Canada Devon Island |
geographic_facet |
Canada Devon Island |
genre |
Devon Island |
genre_facet |
Devon Island |
op_relation |
doi:10.1111/maps.12004 issn:1086-9379 issn:1945-5100 orcid:0000-0002-8941-1249 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12004 |
container_title |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science |
container_volume |
47 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1681 |
op_container_end_page |
1691 |
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1766396802929524736 |