Lithotrophic microbial communities and biosignatures in geothermal environments at Kverkfjöll: an analogue for Mars life (Arola Moreras).
Category: Use of Extreme Environments to advance the exploration and settlement of space
Institution: University of St Andrews
This cross-disciplinary project was focused on identifying active metabolisms in Mars analogue environments and the resulting stable isotope biosignatures preserved in mineral and organic products. Just as terrestrial geological processes can be used as analogues for their Martian counterparts, terrestrial biology can serve as a proxy for Martian biota. To explore the biogeochemistry consistent with the geological observations of ancient Mars, it is necessary to find terrestrial environments that are depleted in oxygen and substantial organic matter, with elevated carbon dioxide, S, and Fe. Such environments exist at the Kverkfjöll subglacial basaltic volcano in Iceland, which has unique ice-fed geothermal systems. Geochemical inputs for these environments are similar to early Mars, including volcanic degassing of carbon dioxide,
hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen, and dissolution of basalt to release mobile elements such as Mg, Fe, and Ca.
This geochemical similarity to Martian environments allows Mars-analogue biogeochemistry to be investigated. This project is therefore directly relevant to the Earth and Space Foundation’s vision, which includes understanding microbial life in extreme environments on Earth and beyond.