Biology
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufm.p22b0549p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #P22B-0549
Biology
1615 Biogeochemical Processes (4805), 1833 Hydroclimatology, 4805 Biogeochemical Cycles (1615), 4840 Microbiology, 6207 Comparative Planetology
Scientific paper
Introduction: Recent discoveries revealed terrestrial colonies of microbes both in 349 K geothermal groundwater located at a depth of 2800 m, beneath glaciers in the Canadian Arctic and subglacial lakes in Antarctica at a depth >3 km. The existence of extremophiles in these subsurface environments has opened up important new directions in the exploration for Martian life. Consistent with NASA's programmatic initiative to``follow the water'' exploration for extant life has focused on the search for zones of subsurface water. Previous authors identified environments for liquid water in the region of the Martian North Polar Cap of Mars, including the melting at the base of ice sheets and magma-ice interactions. Such magma-ice interactions in Iceland have created landforms that may serve as possible analogs for Martian landforms observed in some Viking and MOC images. Volcano-Ice Interactions in Iceland as Analogs for Mars: Subglacial volcanism, associated jökulhlaup outflood events, and pseudocraters/rootless cones are examples of volcano-ice interactions observed in Iceland that could also exist on Mars. The Grímsvötn geothermal area located on the Vatnajökull Glacier boasts a network of active subglacial volcanoes and fissures. The extensive geothermal system that has developed beneath the ice cap is thought to be responsible for repeated jökulhlaup (glacial outflood) events in the Vatnajökull region. In addition, pseudocraters (or ``rootless cones'') are also present in periglacial areas where lava flows have been extruded over ground ice or shallow aquifers. In such regions, dense fields of small volcanic cones form by phreatic (steam) explosions. The potential for identifying similar geomorphic features on Mars using MOC-scale imaging is great. Furthermore, lava-ocean and lava-ice interactions in Iceland and elsewhere on Earth have frequently resulted in an altered (palagonitized) glass product forming on the exposed surfaces of pillow basalts. It has been conjectured by others that in some cases microbes have been found living in the interface between the fresh and altered glasses, giving rise to a new direction in exploration for extremophile life in basaltic rocks, and hence in volcanic regions. A region on Mars where a volcano-ice or volcano-water interaction may have taken place would therefore be a promising location to search for life during a future mission. Methods: We conducted a survey of Viking orbiter and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images for the region north of 70oN. Several promising sites provided evidence for localized volcano-ice interactions along the margin of the North Polar cap. A detailed morphological feature comparison (incorporating MOLA topographical data) with terrestrial analogs is presently underway. Additionally, geologic mapping of these regions is being conducted and the results are being evaluated. References: Allen C. C. (1979) JGR, 84, B14, 8048-8059. Björnsson H. and Kristmannsdóttir H. (1984) Jökull, 34, 25-50. Clifford S. M. (1987) JGR, 92, B9, 9135-9152. Clifford S. M. (1993) JGR, 98, E6, 10973-11016. Fredrickson J. K. and Onstott T. C. (1996) Sci. Amer., 275(4), 42-47. Furnes H. and Staudigel H. (1999) Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 166, 97-103. Greeley R. and Fagents S. A. JGR, (in press). Priscu, J. C. et al. (1999) Science, 286, 2141-2145. Skidmore M. L. et al. (2000) Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66, 8, 3214-3220. Smellie J. L. and Skilling I. P. (1994) Sediment. Geol., 91, 115-129. Thorseth I. H. et al. (1995) Chem. Geol., 126, 137-146.
Farmer Doyne J.
Payne Mike C.
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