A new extraction technique for in situ analyses of amino and carboxylic acids on Mars by gas chromatography mass spectrometry

In order to target key organic compounds in the Martian regolith using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), we have developed a new extraction procedure coupled with chemical derivatization. This new technique was tested on a Mars analog soil sample collected from the Atacama Desert in Chile. We found that amino and carboxylic acids can be extracted from the Atacama soil in a 1:1 mixture of isopropanol and water after ultrasonic treatment for 30 min. The extracted organic compounds were then derivatized in a single-step reaction using N-methyl-N-(tert-butyldimethylsilyl)-trifluoroacetamide (MTBSTFA) as the silylating agent in order to transform these compounds into volatile species that can then be detected by GC-MS. We are currently developing a miniaturized reaction cell suited for spaceflight, where both organic extraction and chemical derivatization processes can take place in a single step.     

Practicing costumbres and the decommodification of nature: The Chilean water markets and the Atacameño people

Scholars who have critically analyzed the commodification of nature have explored how the specific biophysical features of the objects to be commodified can shape the outcome of the commodification process. Thus, the establishment and behavior of a market system is closer to a political struggle than it is a simple technical and spontaneous process. Despite their contributions, these approaches have not focused on the resistance that cultural exegesis, self-identification, and the affective connection between the human and non-human pose to market systems. In this paper, I show how the Atacameño people from the Atacama Desert (Chile) have subverted the radical pro-water market model imposed by the Chilean military dictatorship in 1981 by relying on their water-related cultural values. In some Atacameño communities, the water market has not operated to ensure that water rights are put to those uses with the highest economic value (e.g., mining or urban water consumption). Indeed, in these communities, internal rules both forbid the sale of water rights to the mining sector and regulate the distribution of water within the community in terms that operate as barriers to other transactions. These rules form part of a moral economy of water that is a concrete ethic based on shared values and affective connections between humans and non-humans, mandating how people should relate to one another in relation to water. Together, these relations have decommodified water and contradict the neoliberal explanation of how a free water market should work.     

Evaporation in the Atacama Desert: An empirical study of spatio-temporal variations and their causes

The Atacama Desert is hyper-arid, and areas where adequate moisture exists for evaporation are spatially highly restricted. Nevertheless, water resources exist and their evaluation requires knowledge of this elusive but important component of the hydrological cycle. Evaporation may occur in four typical areas: rivers and associated riparian zones, localized springs, large playas and extensive areas of bare soil after infrequent precipitation events. Transpiration is locally possible where moisture is sufficiently close to the surface to allow phreatophytes or scarce grass cover to grow, but virtually no information is available for quantification. Pan evaporation data from 11 stations for the period 1977–1991 is analyzed and complemented by analysis of an evaporation study conducted in the Salar de Atacama during 1987/1988. The results show that pan evaporation, and hence maximum potential evaporation may be considered largely a function of maximum temperature and elevation as well as density of the evaporating fluid. Actual evaporation is limited by available moisture and diminishes rapidly as the level of soil moisture saturation drops below the soil surface, extinguishing at ca. 2 m depth. Evaporation is greatest during the summer, but at higher elevations convective cloudiness develops during January and February reducing evaporating rates at a time when significant precipitation may occur. Inter-annual variations in pan evaporation are considerable and weakly correlated with ENSO, but variations in actual evaporation are damped by comparison. Regression equations are developed which have widespread applicability and may be used to estimate evaporation in areas where no site-specific data exists.     

Fog measurements at the site “Falda Verde” north of Chañaral compared with other fog stations of Chile

Fog collection data registered through a Standard Fog Collector (SFC) installed by a local fishermen's association at a height of 600 m at the “Falda Verde” site, north of the Chilean harbor Chañaral (26°17′S/70°36′W), from November 1998 to November 2000, are analyzed. Trying to give new lights on the dynamics of fog along the Chilean northern coast, this article compares, for the first time, the data obtained at Falda Verde with those obtained at five other Chilean fog stations. The total time period runs from 1987 to 2001. A mean of 1.46 l/m²/day was registered at the Falda Verde site after 2 years of measurements, one of the lowest yields along the north Chilean coast. After a brief historical recapitulation of fog researches in the study area, geographical explanations of the water yields obtained in different sites are discussed. The annual mean collection from Cerro Moreno and Paposo shows a clearly different behavior from all other sites, showing a greater stability throughout the year. Other stations have a marked difference between extreme seasons. Alto Patache yields, if not the best in Chile, are very high and offer unexpected possibilities for future applications in the coast. Stations located away from the seashore (Cerro Guatalaya) are clearly less productive. Ocean proximity, altitude, south and southwest orientations of the coastal ranges and local relief explain some of the differences noted.     

Neogene evaporites in desert volcanic environments: Atacama Desert, northern Chile

The Upper Miocene and Pliocene evaporite deposits of the Atacama Desert of northern Chile (Hilaricos and Soledad Formations) are among the few non‐marine evaporites in which aridity not only formed the deposits, but has also preserved them almost unaltered under near‐surface conditions. These deposits are largely composed of displacive Ca sulphate and halite together with minor amounts of glauberite, thenardite and polyhalite. However, at the base and top of these deposits, there are also beds of gypsum crystal pseudomorphs that originally formed as free‐growth forms within shallow brine bodies, rather than as displacive sediments. The halite is present as interstitial cement, displacive cubes and shallow‐water, bottom‐growth chevron crusts. Most of the calcium sulphate is presently anhydrite, pseudomorphous after gypsum, that was the primary depositional sulphate mineral. The secondary anhydrite formed under early diagenetic conditions after slight burial (some metres) resulting from the effect of strongly evolved pore brines. The anhydrite has been preserved without rehydration during late diagenetic and exhumation stages on account of the arid environment of the Atacama Desert. Both the Hilaricos and the Soledad Formations contain geochemical markers indicating that these Neogene evaporites had a largely non‐marine origin. Bromine content in the halite is very low (few p.p.m.), indicating neither a sedimentological relation with sea water nor the likelihood of direct recycling of prior marine halites. Moreover, the δ³⁴S of sulphates (+4·5‰ to +9‰) also reflects a non‐marine origin, with a strong volcanic influence, although some recycling of Mesozoic marine sulphates cannot be ruled out. δ³⁴S of dissolved sulphate from hot springs and streams in the area commonly displays positive values (+2‰ to +10‰). Leaching of oxidized sulphur and chlorine compounds from volcanoes and epithermal ore bodies, very common in the associated drainage areas, have been the main contribution to the accumulation of evaporites. The sedimentary and diagenetic evolution of the Hilaricos and Soledad evaporites (based on lithofacies analysis) provides information about the palaeohydrological conditions in the Central Depression of northern Chile during the Neogene. In addition, the diagenesis and exhumation history of these evaporites confirms the persistence of strongly arid conditions from Late Miocene until the present. A final phase of tectonism took place permitting the internal drainage to change and open to the sea, resulting in dissolution and removal of a significant portion of these deposits. Despite the extensive dissolution, the remaining evaporites have undergone little late exhumational hydration.     

Pattern and rate of erosion inferred from Inca agricultural terraces in arid southern Peru

Earthworks of assumed age and their initial and current morphologies provide an ideal basis for developing and testing models for long-term landform erosion. Inca agricultural terraces abandoned at  1532 A.D in the drylands of southern Peru may be used to document morphological changes since the abandonment. The objective of this research is to determine the erosion pattern and process to estimate the erosion rate.The development of rills and channels on the Inca agricultural terraces is evidence for erosion by wash processes on slopes where the anchoring effect of vegetation is absent and loose material is available for removal. The pattern and amount of erosion from 1532–2005 A.D. is estimated by comparing elevation models of the observed morphology and reconstructed models of the original morphology of the Inca terraces. The results show that in areas of sediment accumulation surface elevation increased up to 0.5 m. Elevation lowering on the terrace treads was 0.7 m at maximum, and a temporally and spatially averaged lowering rate was 0.094 mm yr^− 1. This gives insights about how the rate of erosion occurs on currently disturbed lands in arid environments where soil resources are scarce and lands are prone to desertification.