A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes
Lava tubes on Mars hold exciting potential for the preservation of biosignatures, which may survive on geological timescales in these isolated, stable environments. To support the development of future astrobiological mission concepts, we turn to terrestrial lava tubes, host to a variety of microbia...
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Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi
2022
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-476286 2024-02-11T10:05:14+01:00 A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes Kopacz, Nina Csuka, Joleen Baque, Mickael Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav Guolaugardottir, Hrefna Klarenberg, Ingeborg J. Ahmed, Mahid Zetterlind, Alexandra Singh, Abhijeet ten Kate, Inge Loes Hellebrand, Eric Stockwell, Brent R. Stefansson, arni B. Vilhelmsson, Oddur Neubeck, Anna Schnurer, Anna Geppert, Wolf 2022 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-476286 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EA002234 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi Univ Utrecht, Dept Earth Sci, Utrecht, Netherlands. Columbia Univ, Dept Chem, New York, NY 10027 USA. German Aerosp Ctr DLR, Inst Planetary Res, Berlin, Germany. Univ Tartu, Tartu Observ, Tartu, Estonia. Univ Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland. Univ Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland.;Univ Akureyri, Biomed Ctr, Geoctr, Akureyri, Iceland. Uppsala Univ, Dept Earth Sci, Uppsala, Sweden. Columbia Univ, Dept Chem, New York, NY 10027 USA.;Columbia Univ, Dept Biol Sci, New York, NY 10027 USA. Augnlaeknastofa ABS, Reykjavik, Iceland. Univ Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland.;Univ Akureyri, Biomed Ctr, Geoctr, Akureyri, Iceland.;Univ Reading, Sch Biol Sci, Reading, Berks, England. Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Uppsala, Sweden. Stockholm Univ, Astrobiol Ctr, Stockholm, Sweden. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Earth and Space Science, 2022, 9:5, orcid:0000-0003-4407-5509 orcid:0000-0002-9548-9069 orcid:0000-0002-0807-6080 orcid:0000-0002-1291-5529 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-476286 doi:10.1029/2022EA002234 ISI:000797194500001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Geology Geologi Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2022 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EA002234 2024-01-17T23:32:08Z Lava tubes on Mars hold exciting potential for the preservation of biosignatures, which may survive on geological timescales in these isolated, stable environments. To support the development of future astrobiological mission concepts, we turn to terrestrial lava tubes, host to a variety of microbial communities and secondary minerals. Following a multidisciplinary sampling protocol, we retrieved biological, molecular, and mineralogical data from several lava tubes in Iceland. We report on blue-colored copper-rich secondary minerals and their associated bacterial communities using a multi-method approach, and an amalgam of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy data sets. We found numerous bacterial genera known for their high metal resistance and ability to survive in low-nutrient environments. Both are characteristics to be expected for any potential life in Martian lava tubes, and should be considered when checking for contaminants in Mars mission preparations. Associated with the microbial mats, we identified several types of copper-rich secondary minerals, indicating localized copper enrichments in the groundwater, possibly stemming from overlying ash deposits and nearby hyaloclastite formations. Molecular analysis revealed carotenoid signals preserved within the copper speleothems. If found in Martian lava tubes, blue copper-rich mineral precipitates would be deserving of astrobiological investigation, as they have potential to preserve biosignatures and harbor life. Plain Language Summary Subterranean lava tubes on Mars are exciting locations to study in the potential discovery of signs of life outside of Earth, as the surface of Mars does not have conditions conducive to the preservation of life as we know it. In order to better study these Martian environments we look first to comparable lava tubes on Earth. Within Icelandic lava tubes we found blue-colored copper minerals, host to microbial life. The microbes that thrive in ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Earth and Space Science 9 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Geology Geologi Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap |
spellingShingle |
Geology Geologi Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap Kopacz, Nina Csuka, Joleen Baque, Mickael Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav Guolaugardottir, Hrefna Klarenberg, Ingeborg J. Ahmed, Mahid Zetterlind, Alexandra Singh, Abhijeet ten Kate, Inge Loes Hellebrand, Eric Stockwell, Brent R. Stefansson, arni B. Vilhelmsson, Oddur Neubeck, Anna Schnurer, Anna Geppert, Wolf A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
topic_facet |
Geology Geologi Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap |
description |
Lava tubes on Mars hold exciting potential for the preservation of biosignatures, which may survive on geological timescales in these isolated, stable environments. To support the development of future astrobiological mission concepts, we turn to terrestrial lava tubes, host to a variety of microbial communities and secondary minerals. Following a multidisciplinary sampling protocol, we retrieved biological, molecular, and mineralogical data from several lava tubes in Iceland. We report on blue-colored copper-rich secondary minerals and their associated bacterial communities using a multi-method approach, and an amalgam of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy data sets. We found numerous bacterial genera known for their high metal resistance and ability to survive in low-nutrient environments. Both are characteristics to be expected for any potential life in Martian lava tubes, and should be considered when checking for contaminants in Mars mission preparations. Associated with the microbial mats, we identified several types of copper-rich secondary minerals, indicating localized copper enrichments in the groundwater, possibly stemming from overlying ash deposits and nearby hyaloclastite formations. Molecular analysis revealed carotenoid signals preserved within the copper speleothems. If found in Martian lava tubes, blue copper-rich mineral precipitates would be deserving of astrobiological investigation, as they have potential to preserve biosignatures and harbor life. Plain Language Summary Subterranean lava tubes on Mars are exciting locations to study in the potential discovery of signs of life outside of Earth, as the surface of Mars does not have conditions conducive to the preservation of life as we know it. In order to better study these Martian environments we look first to comparable lava tubes on Earth. Within Icelandic lava tubes we found blue-colored copper minerals, host to microbial life. The microbes that thrive in ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kopacz, Nina Csuka, Joleen Baque, Mickael Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav Guolaugardottir, Hrefna Klarenberg, Ingeborg J. Ahmed, Mahid Zetterlind, Alexandra Singh, Abhijeet ten Kate, Inge Loes Hellebrand, Eric Stockwell, Brent R. Stefansson, arni B. Vilhelmsson, Oddur Neubeck, Anna Schnurer, Anna Geppert, Wolf |
author_facet |
Kopacz, Nina Csuka, Joleen Baque, Mickael Iakubivskyi, Iaroslav Guolaugardottir, Hrefna Klarenberg, Ingeborg J. Ahmed, Mahid Zetterlind, Alexandra Singh, Abhijeet ten Kate, Inge Loes Hellebrand, Eric Stockwell, Brent R. Stefansson, arni B. Vilhelmsson, Oddur Neubeck, Anna Schnurer, Anna Geppert, Wolf |
author_sort |
Kopacz, Nina |
title |
A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
title_short |
A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
title_full |
A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
title_fullStr |
A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Study in Blue : Secondary Copper-Rich Minerals and Their Associated Bacterial Diversity in Icelandic Lava Tubes |
title_sort |
study in blue : secondary copper-rich minerals and their associated bacterial diversity in icelandic lava tubes |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Paleobiologi |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-476286 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EA002234 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
Earth and Space Science, 2022, 9:5, orcid:0000-0003-4407-5509 orcid:0000-0002-9548-9069 orcid:0000-0002-0807-6080 orcid:0000-0002-1291-5529 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-476286 doi:10.1029/2022EA002234 ISI:000797194500001 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EA002234 |
container_title |
Earth and Space Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
5 |
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1790602147961765888 |