Seeking Signs of Life on Mars: A Strategy for Selecting and Analyzing Returned Samples from Hydrothermal Deposits
2018
Highly promising locales for biosignature prospecting on Mars are ancient hydrothermal deposits, formed by the interaction of surface water with heat from volcanism or impacts [1-3]. On
Earth, they occur throughout the geological record (to
at least ~3.5 Ga), preserving robust mineralogical, textural and compositional evidence of thermophilic microbial activity [e.g., 3-5]. Hydrothermal systems were
likely present early in Mars’ history [6], including at
two of the three finalist candidate landing sites for
M2020, Columbia Hills [7-9] and NE Syrtis Major [10
& refs. therein]. Hydrothermal environments on Earth’s
surface are varied, constituting subaerial hot spring
aprons, mounds and fumaroles; shallow to deep-sea
hydrothermal vents (black and white smokers); and
vent mounds and hot-spring discharges in lacustrine
and fluvial settings. Biological information can be preserved by rapid, spring-sourced mineral precipitation
[1,2,9], but also could be altered or destroyed by postdepositional events [5,11,12]. Thus, field observations
need to be followed by detailed laboratory analysis to
verify potential biosignatures.
Keywords:
- Correction
- Source
- Cite
- Save
- Machine Reading By IdeaReader
0
References
0
Citations
NaN
KQI