Inhabited subsurface wet smectites in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert as an analog for the search for life on Mars

被引：26

作者：

Azua-Bustos, Armando ^{[1
,2
]}

Fairen, Alberto G. ^{[1
,3
]}

Gonzalez Silva, Carlos ^{[4
]}

Carrizo, Daniel ^{[1
]}

Fernandez-Martinez, Miguel Angel ^{[5
]}

Arenas-Fajardo, Cristian ^{[6
]}

Fernandez-Sampedro, Maite ^{[1
]}

Gil-Lozano, Carolina ^{[1
,7
]}

Sanchez-Garcia, Laura ^{[1
]}

Ascaso, Carmen ^{[8
]}

Wierzchos, Jacek ^{[8
]}

Rampe, Elizabeth B. ^{[9
]}

机构：

[1] Ctr Astrobiol CSIC INTA, Madrid 28850, Spain

[2] Univ Autonoma Chile, Fac Ciencias Salud, Inst Ciencias Biomed, Santiago, Chile

[3] Cornell Univ, Dept Astron, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA

[4] Univ Tarapaca, Fac Ciencias, Arica, Chile

[5] McGill Univ, Dept Nat Resource Sci, Montreal, PQ, Canada

[6] Atacama Res, Santiago, Chile

[7] Univ Nantes, Lab Planetol & Geodynam, F-44322 Nantes, France

[8] Museo Nacl Ciencias Nat CSIC, Madrid 28006, Spain

[9] NASA, Astromat Res & Explorat Sci Div, Johnson Space Ctr, Houston, TX USA

来源：

SCIENTIFIC REPORTS | 2020年 / 10卷 / 01期

基金：

欧洲研究理事会;

关键词：

GALE CRATER; ORGANIC-MATTER; JEZERO CRATER; MICROBIAL COLONIZATION; BACTERIAL COMMUNITIES; LIPID BIOMARKERS; CARBON ISOTOPES; HALITE ROCKS; SOILS; DEPOSITS;

D O I：

10.1038/s41598-020-76302-z

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

The modern Martian surface is unlikely to be habitable due to its extreme aridity among other environmental factors. This is the reason why the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert has been studied as an analog for the habitability of Mars for more than 50 years. Here we report a layer enriched in smectites located just 30 cm below the surface of the hyperarid core of the Atacama. We discovered the clay-rich layer to be wet (a phenomenon never observed before in this region), keeping a high and constant relative humidity of 78% (a(w) 0.780), and completely isolated from the changing and extremely dry subaerial conditions characteristic of the Atacama. The smectite-rich layer is inhabited by at least 30 halophilic species of metabolically active bacteria and archaea, unveiling a previously unreported habitat for microbial life under the surface of the driest place on Earth. The discovery of a diverse microbial community in smectite-rich subsurface layers in the hyperarid core of the Atacama, and the collection of biosignatures we have identified within the clays, suggest that similar shallow clay deposits on Mars may contain biosignatures easily reachable by current rovers and landers.

引用

页数：17

共 136 条

[71] LACUSTRINE ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY - AN OVERVIEW OF INDICATORS OF ORGANIC-MATTER SOURCES AND DIAGENESIS IN LAKE-SEDIMENTS [J].

MEYERS, PA ;

ISHIWATARI, R .

ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY, 1993, 20 (07) :867-900

[72]

Millan M, 2019, 9 INT C MARS 2089

[73] Paleoclimate of Mars as captured by the stratigraphic record in Gale Crater [J].

Milliken, R. E. ;

Grotzinger, J. P. ;

Thomson, B. J. .

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 2010, 37

[74] Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago [J].

Mojzsis, SJ ;

Arrhenius, G ;

McKeegan, KD ;

Harrison, TM ;

Nutman, AP ;

Friend, CRL .

NATURE, 1996, 384 (6604) :55-59

[75] Analysis and characterization of cultivable extremophilic hydrolytic bacterial community in heavy-metal-contaminated soils from the Atacama Desert and their biotechnological potentials [J].

Moreno, M. L. ;

Piubeli, F. ;

Bonfa, M. R. L. ;

Garcia, M. T. ;

Durrant, L. R. ;

Mellado, E. .

JOURNAL OF APPLIED MICROBIOLOGY, 2012, 113 (03) :550-559

[76] Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars investigation and data set from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's primary science phase [J].

Murchie, Scott L. ;

Seelos, Frank P. ;

Hash, Christopher D. ;

Humm, David C. ;

Malaret, Erick ;

McGovern, J. Andrew ;

Choo, Teck H. ;

Seelos, Kimberly D. ;

Buczkowski, Debra L. ;

Morgan, M. Frank ;

Barnouin-Jha, Olivier S. ;

Nair, Hari ;

Taylor, Howard W. ;

Patterson, Gerald W. ;

Harvel, Christopher A. ;

Mustard, John F. ;

Arvidson, Raymond E. ;

McGuire, Patrick ;

Smith, Michael D. ;

Wolff, Michael J. ;

Titus, Timothy N. ;

Bibring, Jean-Pierre ;

Poulet, Francois .

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2009, 114

[77] Hydrated silicate minerals on mars observed by the Mars reconnaissance orbiter CRISM instrument [J].

Mustard, John F. ;

Murchie, S. L. ;

Pelkey, S. M. ;

Ehlmann, B. L. ;

Milliken, R. E. ;

Grant, J. A. ;

Bibring, J. -P. ;

Poulet, F. ;

Bishop, J. ;

Dobrea, E. Noe ;

Roach, L. ;

Seelos, F. ;

Arvidson, R. E. ;

Wiseman, S. ;

Green, R. ;

Hash, C. ;

Humm, D. ;

Malaret, E. ;

McGovern, J. A. ;

Seelos, K. ;

Clancy, T. ;

Clark, R. ;

Des Marais, D. ;

Izenberg, N. ;

Knudson, A. ;

Langevin, Y. ;

Martin, T. ;

McGuire, P. ;

Morris, R. ;

Robinson, M. ;

Roush, T. ;

Smith, M. ;

Swayze, G. ;

Taylor, H. ;

Titus, T. ;

Wolff, M. .

NATURE, 2008, 454 (7202) :305-309

[78] Chemistry of diagenetic features analyzed by ChemCam at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, Mars [J].

Nachon, M. ;

Mangold, N. ;

Forni, O. ;

Kah, L. C. ;

Cousin, A. ;

Wiens, R. C. ;

Anderson, R. ;

Blaney, D. ;

Blank, J. G. ;

Calef, F. ;

Clegg, S. M. ;

Fabre, C. ;

Fisk, M. R. ;

Gasnault, O. ;

Grotzinger, J. P. ;

Kronyak, R. ;

Lanza, N. L. ;

Lasue, J. ;

Le Deit, L. ;

Le Mouelic, S. ;

Maurice, S. ;

Meslin, P. -Y. ;

Oehler, D. Z. ;

Payre, V. ;

Rapin, W. ;

Schroeder, S. ;

Stack, K. ;

Sumner, D. .

ICARUS, 2017, 281 :121-136

[79] Calcium sulfate veins characterized by ChemCam/Curiosity at Gale crater, Mars [J].

Nachon, M. ;

Clegg, S. M. ;

Mangold, N. ;

Schroeder, S. ;

Kah, L. C. ;

Dromart, G. ;

Ollila, A. ;

Johnson, J. R. ;

Oehler, D. Z. ;

Bridges, J. C. ;

Le Mouelic, S. ;

Forni, O. ;

Wiens, R. C. ;

Anderson, R. B. ;

Blaney, D. L. ;

Bell, J. F. ;

Clark, B. ;

Cousin, A. ;

Dyar, M. D. ;

Ehlmann, B. ;

Fabre, C. ;

Gasnault, O. ;

Grotzinger, J. ;

Lasue, J. ;

Lewin, E. ;

Leveille, R. ;

McLennan, S. ;

Maurice, S. ;

Meslin, P. -Y. ;

Rapin, W. ;

Rice, M. ;

Squyres, S. W. ;

Stack, K. ;

Sumner, D. Y. ;

Vaniman, D. ;

Wellington, D. .

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS, 2014, 119 (09) :1991-2016

[80] Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and the dry limit of microbial life [J].

Navarro-González, R ;

Rainey, FA ;

Molina, P ;

Bagaley, DR ;

Hollen, BJ ;

de la Rosa, J' ;

Small, AM ;

Quinn, RC ;

Grunthaner, FJ ;

Caceres, L ;

Gomez-Silva, B ;

McKay, CP .

SCIENCE, 2003, 302 (5647) :1018-1021

← 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 →