Water bearing halites: Oases of Mars?

Details Water bearing halites: Oases of Mars? Water bearing halites: Oases of Mars?

Dec 2003

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003agufm.p42c..02v&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2003, abstract #P42C-02

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5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets

Scientific paper

Without liquid water there can be no life as we know it. This tenet focuses our search for extraterrestrial life on celestial bodies that had, or may still have, this essential substance. Searching for extraterrestrial life means selecting samples likely to protect water this requires reaching water containing perma-frosts, underground aquifers, or evaporites. Assuming one finds life similar to that on Earth how can we know it is from another planet and not contamination? This paper focuses on recent isolations of living microbes from halite that is at least 250 million years old. The presentation traces the recent data and theoretical considerations providing evidence for the age of the microbe, differences between it and modern relatives and its survival within water-bearing minerals. The evidence that evaporites may be a natural mechanism for maintaining life under adverse conditions is compelling and suggests that similar materials may be targets on Mars and elsewhere.

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