Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Apr 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....1088a&link_type=abstract
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #1088
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
Utilisation of Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) equipment is planned in future Mars missions (Odyssey; http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/odyssey/). Therefore, it is necessary to start developing new geological and palaeontological investigation techniques for the AFM and to test them on terrestrial rocks, in order to establish criteria for unequivocal identification of objects (e.g. microfossils) and environments (e.g. water) expected on Mars and other planets. Experiments in use of the AFM for recognition of microfossils in Archean rocks (Kempe et al., 2002) and for investigations of structures typical of glacial, aquatic or aeolian transport, on surfaces of sedimentary grains in recent sediments were performed. The applied methods are standard in micropaleontology and sedimentology by SEM and optical microscopy. The use of AFM however, allows for higher resolution and direct 3-D measurements in situ on the samples, but it requires special preparation techniques. In an experiment investigating Precambrian filamentous and coccoidal microfossils in etched, silicified stromatolites, with the AFM, it was found that fossils of various Precambrian ages show typical topography because of similar response to etching. This topography is characteristic and can be used as one of the identification criteria. Other identification criteria emblematic of the AFM technique include the hardness and adhesion characteristics of the sample, and the arrangement of carbon platelets within the cell wall. Criteria used in optical and SEM microscopy, such as size and shape of the fossils, are also applicable (Kempe, 2003). The experiments on detrital grain surfaces show that each environment produces typical surfaces that can be imaged and measured (roughness and characteristic form and orientation of marks) by AFM. Thus, ancient Martian detrital sediments could be identified as deposited by water, by wind, or by ice with an automated AFM procedure and without returning the samples to the Earth. References: Kempe, A. 2003: Entwicklung einer neuen Präparationsmethode u. Untersuchungen verkieselter Mikrofossilien des Präkambriums mit Hilfe der Rasterkraft- und Elektronenmikroskopie. Dissert. Dep. Geo- u. Umweltwissenschaften, LMU. Kempe, A., Schopf, J.W., Altermann, W., Kudryavtsev, A.B. &Heckl, W.M. 2002: Atomic Force Microscopy of Precambrian microscopic fossils. PNAS, 99/14, 9117-9120
Altermann Wladyslaw
Heckl Wolfgang M.
Kempe André
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