T109 Past and Present Biosignature Recognition on Earth, Mars, and Beyond

Monday, 26 September 2016
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Mile High Ballroom 2C

ANALOGUES OF TERRESTRIAL MICROBIALLY INDUCED SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES IN SANDSTONES OF THE < 3.7 GA GILLESPIE LAKE MEMBER, MARS

Paper number: T109-6
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:20 AM – 9:40 AM

Authors

  • Nora Noffke Presenting Author
    Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA

Abstract

Sandstone beds of the < 3.7 Ga Gillespie Lake Member, Mars, record an ancient playa environment. On Earth, clastic paleoenvironments of similar ages had been sites of colonization by microbial mats that formed MISS. Two rock beds on Mars display structures of analogue morphology to such terrestrial MISS. The Martian structures resemble ‘erosional remnants and pockets’, 'polygonal dessiccation cracks', ‘roll-ups’, as well as ‘gas domes’. The structures on each of the two rock beds are not at random but arranged into associations. The same associations are known from equivalent MISS-bearing terrestrial rock beds. The conclusion of this study is the hypothesis that the sedimentary structures in the < 3.7 Ga Gillespie Lake Member on Mars are fossil MISS. The Gillespie Lake Member is suggested as candidate landing site for the sample return mission Mars Rover 2020.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-284735

© Copyright 2016 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.