The Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Ecosystem - Relevance to Exobiology

Details The Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Ecosystem - Relevance to Exobiology The Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Ecosystem - Relevance to Exobiology

Dec 1984

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1984orli...14..771f&link_type=abstract

Origins of Life, Volume 14, Issue 1-4, pp. 771-776

Computer Science

6

Scientific paper

Cryptoendolithic microorganisms in the Antarctic desert liver inside porous sandstone rocks, protected by a thin rock crust. While the rock surface is abiotic, the microclimate inside the rock is comparatively mild. These organisms may have descended from early, pre-glaciation Antarctic life forms and thus may represent the last outpost of life in a gradually deterorating environment. Assuming that life once arose on Mars, it is conceivable that, following the loss of water, the last of surviving organisms withdrew to similar insulated microenvironments. Because such microscopic pockets have little connection with the outside environment, their detection may be difficult. The chances that the Viking lander could sample cryptoendolithic microorganisms in the Antarctic desert would be infinitesimal.

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