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2018 ; 123
(5
): 1012-1040
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A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars
#MMPMID30034979
McMahon S
; Bosak T
; Grotzinger JP
; Milliken RE
; Summons RE
; Daye M
; Newman SA
; Fraeman A
; Williford KH
; Briggs DEG
J Geophys Res Planets
2018[May]; 123
(5
): 1012-1040
PMID30034979
show ga
The Martian surface is cold, dry, exposed to biologically harmful radiation and
apparently barren today. Nevertheless, there is clear geological evidence for
warmer, wetter intervals in the past that could have supported life at or near
the surface. This evidence has motivated National Aeronautics and Space
Administration and European Space Agency to prioritize the search for any remains
or traces of organisms from early Mars in forthcoming missions. Informed by (1)
stratigraphic, mineralogical and geochemical data collected by previous and
current missions, (2) Earth's fossil record, and (3) experimental studies of
organic decay and preservation, we here consider whether, how, and where fossils
and isotopic biosignatures could have been preserved in the depositional
environments and mineralizing media thought to have been present in habitable
settings on early Mars. We conclude that Noachian-Hesperian Fe-bearing clay-rich
fluvio-lacustrine siliciclastic deposits, especially where enriched in silica,
currently represent the most promising and best understood astropaleontological
targets. Siliceous sinters would also be an excellent target, but their presence
on Mars awaits confirmation. More work is needed to improve our understanding of
fossil preservation in the context of other environments specific to Mars,
particularly within evaporative salts and pore/fracture-filling subsurface
minerals.
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