Analysis and survival of amino acids in Martian regolith analogs

Abstract— We have investigated the native amino acid composition of two analogs of Martian soil, JSC Mars‐1 and Salten Skov. A Mars simulation chamber has been built and used to expose samples of these analogs to temperature and lighting conditions similar to those found at low latitudes on the Martian surface. The effects of the simulated conditions have been examined using high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Exposure to energetic ultraviolet (UV) light in vacuum appears to cause a modest increase in the concentration of certain amino acids within the materials, which is interpreted as resulting from the degradation of microorganisms. The influence of low temperatures shows that the accretion of condensed water on the soils leads to the destruction of amino acids, supporting the idea that reactive chemical processes involving H₂O are at work within the Martian soil. We discuss the influence of UV radiation, low temperatures, and gaseous CO₂ on the intrinsic amino acid composition of Martian soil analogs and describe, with the help of a simple model, how these studies fit within the framework of life detection on Mars and the practical tasks of choosing and using Martian regolith analogs in planetary research.     

Age and paragenesis of mineralisation at Coronation Hill uranium deposit,Northern Territory,Australia

Coronation Hill is a U?+?Au?+?platinum group elements deposit in the South Alligator Valley (SAV) field in northern Australia, south of the better known unconformity-style U East Alligator Rivers (EAR) field. The SAV field differs from the EAR by having a more complex basin-basement architecture. A volcanically active fault trough (Jawoyn Sub-basin) developed on older basement and then was disrupted by renewed faulting, before being buried beneath regional McArthur Basin sandstones that are also the main hanging wall to the EAR deposits. Primary mineralisation at Coronation Hill formed at 1607?±?26 Ma (rather than 600–900 Ma as previously thought), and so it is likely that the SAV was part of a single west McArthur Basin dilational event. Most ore is hosted in sub-vertical faults and breccias in the competent volcanic cover sequence. This favoured fluid mixing, acid buffering (forming illite) and oxidation of Fe²⁺ and reduced C-rich assemblages as important uranium depositional mechanisms. However, reduction of U in fractured older pyrite (Pb model age of 1833?±?67 Ma) is an important trap in diorite. Some primary ore was remobilised at 675?±?21 Ma to form coarse uraninite?+?Ni-Co pyrite networks containing radiogenic Pb. Coronation Hill is polymetallic, and in this respect resembles the ‘egress’-style U deposits in the Athabascan Basin (Canada). However, these are all cover-hosted. A hypothesis for further testing is that Coronation Hill is also egress-style, with ores formed by fluids rising through basement-hosted fault networks (U reduction by diorite pyrite and carbonaceous shale), and into veins and breccias in the overlying Jawoyn Sub-basin volcano-sedimentary succession.     

High-resolution precipitation and temperature downscaling for glacier models

The spatial resolution gap between global or regional climate models and the requirements for local impact studies motivates the need for climate downscaling. For impact studies that involve glacier modelling, the sparsity or complete absence of climate monitoring activities within the regions of interest presents a substantial additional challenge. Downscaling methods for this application must be independent of climate observations and cannot rely on tuning to station data. We present new, computationally-efficient methods for downscaling precipitation and temperature to the high spatial resolutions required to force mountain glacier models. Our precipitation downscaling is based on an existing linear theory for orographic precipitation, which we modify for large study regions by including moist air tracking. Temperature is downscaled using an interpolation scheme that reconstructs the vertical temperature structure to estimate surface temperatures from upper air data. Both methods are able to produce output on km to sub-km spatial resolution, yet do not require tuning to station measurements. By comparing our downscaled precipitation (1 km resolution) and temperature (200 m resolution) fields to station measurements in southern British Columbia, we evaluate their performance regionally and through the annual cycle. Precipitation is improved by as much as 30% (median relative error) over the input reanalysis data and temperature is reconstructed with a mean bias of 0.5°C at locations with high vertical relief. Both methods perform best in mountainous terrain, where glaciers tend to be concentrated.     

New insights into Late Pleistocene glacial and postglacial history of northernmost Ungava (Canada) from Pingualuit Crater Lake sediments

The Pingualuit Crater was formed by a meteoritic impact ca. 1.4 million years ago in northernmost Ungava (Canada). Due to its geographical position near the center of successive North American ice sheets and its favorable morphometry, the Pingualuit Crater Lake (water depth = 246 m) promises to yield a unique continuous sedimentary sequence covering several glacial/interglacial cycles in the terrestrial Canadian Arctic. In this paper, we suggest the existence of a subglacial lake at least during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) by hydraulic potential modeling using LGM ice-surface elevation and bed topography derived from a digital elevation model. These results support the hypothesis that the bottom sediments of the Crater Lake escaped glacial erosion and may contain a long-term continental sedimentary sequence. We also present the stratigraphy of a 9 m-long core retrieved from the deep basin of the lake as well as a multiproxy reconstruction of its deglacial and postglacial history. The base of the core is formed by very dense diamicton reflecting basal melt-out environments marking the end of subglacial conditions at the coring site. The overlying finely laminated silt are related to the onset of proglacial conditions characterized by extremely low lacustrine productivity. Infra Red Stimulated Luminescence and AMS ¹⁴C dating, as well as biostratigraphic data indicate sediment mixing between recent (e.g. Holocene) and much older (pre- to mid-Wisconsinan) material reworked by glacier activity. This process prevents the precise dating of these sediments that we interpret as being deposited just before the final deglaciation of the lake. Two finer grained and organic-rich intervals reflect the inception of lacustrine productivity resulting from the cessation of glacial meltwater inputs and ice-free periods. The lower organic interval corresponds to the early postglacial period (6850–5750 cal BP) and marks the transition between proglacial and postglacial conditions during the Holocene Thermal Maximum, while the uppermost organic-rich core section represents late Holocene sediments (～4200–600 cal BP). The organic intervals are separated by a basin-scale erosive slide occurring around 4200 cal BP and likely related to 1) a seismic event due to the glacio-isostatic rebound following the last deglaciation or 2) slope instabilities associated with rapid discharge events of the lake.     

Evaluation of the hydrology of the IBIS land surface model in a semi‐arid catchment

This paper evaluates the Integrated BIosphere Simulator (IBIS) land surface model using daily soil moisture data over a 3‐year period (2005–2007) at a semi‐arid site in southeastern Australia, the Stanley catchment, using the Monte Carlo generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) approach. The model was satisfactorily calibrated for both the surface 30 cm and full profile 90 cm. However, full‐profile calibration was not as good as that for the surface, which results from some deficiencies in the evapotranspiration component in IBIS. Relatively small differences in simulated soil moisture were associated with large discrepancies in the predictions of surface runoff, drainage and evapotranspiration. We conclude that while land surface schemes may be effective at simulating heat fluxes, they may be ineffective for prediction of hydrology unless the soil moisture is accurately estimated. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the soil moisture simulations were most sensitive to soil parameters, and the wilting point was the most identifiable parameter. Significant interactions existed between three soils parameters: porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity and Campbell ‘b’ exponent, so they could not be identified independent of each other. There were no significant differences in parameter sensitivity and interaction for different hydroclimatic years. Even though the data record contained a very dry year and another year with a very large rainfall event, this indicated that the soil model could be calibrated without the data needing to explore the extreme range of dry and wet conditions. IBIS was much less sensitive to vegetation parameters. The leaf area index (LAI) could affect the mean of daily soil moisture time series when LAI < 1, while the variance of the soil moisture time series was sensitive to LAI > 1. IBIS was insensitive to the Jackson rooting parameter, suggesting that the effect of the rooting depth distribution on predictions of hydrology was insignificant. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A microseismic experiment in Abu Dhabi,United Arab Emirates: implications for carbonate reservoir monitoring

A microseismic experiment utilizing a single downhole array of eight 3-component receivers was conducted in an offshore oilfield in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The Lower Cretaceous Thamama Group is the major carbonate reservoir in the field producing from six zones. Microseismic data was acquired in conjunction with gas injections that took place in the Thamama IV A and IV B reservoirs during 9 days of acquisition. The aim of the experiment was to monitor the microseismic activity arising in the carbonate reservoirs as a result of gas injection. A total of 103 microseismic events were detected from two of the receivers. For the majority of these events, there were no well-defined P wave arrivals, probably due to the presence of strong background noise and the very weak microseismic signals. The results from this experiment indicate that the detected events are probably related to the microseismic activities caused by the gas injection within the Thamama IV B reservoir. Therefore, downhole microseismic monitoring methods can potentially provide valuable information about the fracture systems within the carbonate reservoirs of Abu Dhabi's oilfields.     

The effects of Martian near surface conditions on the photochemistry of amino acids

In order to understand the complex multi-parameter system of destruction of organic material on the surface of Mars, step-by-step laboratory simulations of processes occurring on the surface of Mars are necessary. This paper describes the measured effects of two parameters, a CO₂ atmosphere and low temperature, on the destruction rate of amino acids when irradiated with Mars-like ultraviolet light (UV). The results show that the presence of a 7 mbar CO₂ atmosphere does not affect the destruction rate of glycine, and that cooling the sample to 210 K (average Mars temperature) lowers the destruction rate by a factor of 7. The decrease in the destruction rate of glycine by cooling the sample is thought to be predominantly caused by the slower reaction kinetics. When these results are scaled to Martian lighting conditions, cold thin films of glycine are assumed to have half-lives of 250 h under noontime peak illumination. It has been hypothesised that the absence of detectable native organic material in the Martian regolith points to the presence of oxidising agents. Some of these agents might form via the interaction of UV with compounds in the atmosphere. Water, although a trace component of Mars’ atmosphere, is suggested to be a significant source of oxidising species. However, gaseous CO₂ or adsorbed H₂O layers do not influence the photodestruction of amino acids significantly in the absence of reactive soil. Other mechanisms such as chemical processes in the Martian regolith need to be effective for rapid organic destruction.     

Active microwave remote sensing for soil moisture measurement: a field evaluation using ERS‐2

Active microwave remote sensing observations of backscattering, such as C‐band vertically polarized synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations from the second European remote sensing (ERS‐2) satellite, have the potential to measure moisture content in a near‐surface layer of soil. However, SAR backscattering observations are highly dependent on topography, soil texture, surface roughness and soil moisture, meaning that soil moisture inversion from single frequency and polarization SAR observations is difficult. In this paper, the potential for measuring near‐surface soil moisture with the ERS‐2 satellite is explored by comparing model estimates of backscattering with ERS‐2 SAR observations. This comparison was made for two ERS‐2 overpasses coincident with near‐surface soil moisture measurements in a 6 ha catchment using 15‐cm time domain reflectometry probes on a 20 m grid. In addition, 1‐cm soil moisture data were obtained from a calibrated soil moisture model. Using state‐of‐the‐art theoretical, semi‐empirical and empirical backscattering models, it was found that using measured soil moisture and roughness data there were root mean square (RMS) errors from 3·5 to 8·5 dB and r² values from 0·00 to 0·25, depending on the backscattering model and degree of filtering. Using model soil moisture in place of measured soil moisture reduced RMS errors slightly (0·5 to 2 dB) but did not improve r² values. Likewise, using the first day of ERS‐2 backscattering and soil moisture data to solve for RMS surface roughness reduced RMS errors in backscattering for the second day to between 0·9 and 2·8 dB, but did not improve r² values. Moreover, RMS differences were as large as 3·7 dB and r² values as low as 0·53 between the various backscattering models, even when using the same data as input. These results suggest that more research is required to improve the agreement between backscattering models, and that ERS‐2 SAR data may be useful for estimating fields‐scale average soil moisture but not variations at the hillslope scale. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The volcanoes and caldera of Talasea,New Britain: Mineralogy

The Talasea Peninsula is composed of a chain of Quaternary volcanoes whose lavas range from basalt to rhyolite. The peninsula is situated in an orogenic environment and the lavas, while essentially calc-alkaline, show some differences from other orogenic suites on the Pacific rim. The most distinctive feature of the Talasea series is absolute iron enrichment in some lavas. Mineralogically, the andesites are characterized by phenocrysts of plagioclase, orthopyroxene, clinopyroxene and titanomagnetite, while the basalts lack titanomagnetite phenocrysts but contain olivine. The acid rocks have a mineralogy similar to that of the andesites, but also contain quartz, amphibole, biotite and ilmenite. The compositions of coexisting titanomagnetite and ilmenite in the acid lavas indicate equilibration temperatures in the range 920° to 860° C and oxygen fugacities ( ) above those of the fayalitemagnetite-quartz buffer assemblage. The mineralogical evidence supports the hypothesis of a crystal fractionation origin for this series and there is a possibility that the was more or less constant during the early stages of its evolution. The iron enriched lavas may be an offshoot from the main line of descent, resulting from near-surface fractionation, with the dominance of plagioclase in the crystal residuum producing an iron-rich liquid.