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Traces of Ancient Life in Oceanic Basalt Preserved as Iron-Mineralized Ultrastructures: Implications for Detecting Extraterrestrial Biosignatures
Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China..ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5960-2175
State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China..
Museum of Nature South Tyrol, Bozen/Bolzano, Italy.;Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften, Paläontologie und Geobiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany.;SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geobiologie, München, Germany..ORCID iD: 0000-0002-0300-0175
Department für Geo- und Umweltwissenschaften, Paläontologie und Geobiologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Germany.;SNSB-Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geobiologie, München, Germany.;GeoBio-Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany..
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2023 (English)In: Astrobiology, ISSN 1531-1074, E-ISSN 1557-8070, Vol. 23, no 7, p. 769-785Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Benefiting from their adaptability to extreme environments, subsurface microorganisms have been discovered in sedimentary and igneous rock environments on Earth and have been advocated as candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life. In this article, we study iron-mineralized microstructures in calcite-filled veins within basaltic pillows of the late Ladinian Fernazza group (Middle Triassic, 239 Ma) in Italy. These microstructures represent diverse morphologies, including filaments, globules, nodules, and micro-digitate stromatolites, which are similar to extant iron-oxidizing bacterial communities. In situ analyses including Raman spectroscopy have been used to investigate the morphological, elemental, mineralogical, and bond-vibrational modes of the microstructures. According to the Raman spectral parameters, iron minerals preserve heterogeneous ultrastructures and crystallinities, coinciding with the morphologies and precursor microbial activities. The degree of crystallinity usually represents a microscale gradient decreasing toward previously existing microbial cells, revealing a decline of mineralization due to microbial activities. This study provides an analog of possible rock-dwelling subsurface life on Mars or icy moons and advocates Raman spectroscopy as an efficient tool for in situ analyses. We put forward the concept that ultrastructural characteristics of minerals described by Raman spectral parameters corresponding to microscale morphologies could be employed as carbon-lean biosignatures in future space missions. Key Words: Ultrastructures—Iron minerals—Oceanic basalt—Subsurface biosignatures.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Mary Ann Liebert, 2023. Vol. 23, no 7, p. 769-785
Keywords [en]
Ultrastructures, iron minerals, oceanic basalt, subsurface biosignatures
National Category
Geology Other Earth and Related Environmental Sciences
Research subject
Ecosystems and species history; The changing Earth
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-5291DOI: 10.1089/ast.2022.0075OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-5291DiVA, id: diva2:1793548
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2019-4061
Note

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41972204), Hundred Talents Program of China (Grant No.E01X070201), the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC0309800), and the Interdisciplinary Innovation Team of Chinese Academy of Sciences (JCTD-2020-18).

Available from: 2023-09-01 Created: 2023-09-01 Last updated: 2023-12-14Bibliographically approved

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Publisher's full texthttps://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2022.0075

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