Biology
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p51a1397i&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P51A-1397
Biology
0406 Astrobiology And Extraterrestrial Materials, 0424 Biosignatures And Proxies, 0463 Microbe/Mineral Interactions, 3625 Petrography, Microstructures, And Textures, 3694 Instruments And Techniques
Scientific paper
Subaqueous volcanic rocks are a relatively new setting in the search for early life on Earth but recent studies have demonstrated that submarine basaltic glass in pillow rims and hyaloclastites are suitable microbial habitats. Microbes rapidly colonize the glassy surfaces along fractures and cracks that have been exposed to water producing characteristic granular and/or tubular bioalteration structures. The minerals within these structures have been investigated using micro X-ray diffraction that confirms early formation of titanite and other mineral phases associated with microbial alteration structures in modern basaltic glass. Incipient titanite formation in modern samples implies that mineralization of these trace fossils is penecontemporaneous with bioalteration. The early precipitation of sub-micron titanite grains within the biologically etched alteration structures serves as an agent for preservation that may persist for geologically extended periods of time in the absence of later penetrative deformation. Titanite-mineralized microbial alteration structures have been observed in several Archean greenstone belts including the Abitibi greenstone belt (2.7 Ga), Pilbara craton (3.35 Ga), and the Barberton greenstone belt (3.5 Ga). The ubiquity of these bioalteration structures and their relative durability compared with many other purported trace fossils makes them attractive as a biomarker for Archean Earth and, potentially, Mars. Basaltic rocks are commonplace on Mars and could have easily come into contact with water in the past. Archean subaqueous volcanic rocks thus provide an excellent analogue for studies addressing the presence of early life on Mars and the potential for the preservation of traces of microbial life in the Martian crust.
Banerjee Neil R.
Bridge N. J.
Chacko Thomas
Flemming Roberta L.
Izawa Matthew R. M.
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