Cold, Dry, Windy, and UV Irradiated: Surveying Mars-Relevant Conditions in Ojos del Salado Volcano (Andes Mountains, Chile)

Keresztúri, A.; Aszalós, Júlia Margit; Heiling, Zsolt; Ignéczi, Ádám; Kapui, Zsuzsanna; Király, Csilla; Leél-Őssy, Szabolcs; Nagy, Balázs; Nemerkényi, Zsombor; Pál, Bernadett; Skultéti, Ágnes; Szalai, Zoltán

doi:10.1089/ast.2019.2165

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Salar de Pajonales (Figure 1) is a large (104 km 2 ) salt flat that lies in a high elevation basin on the western margin of the High Andes in northern Chile to the east of the Atacama Desert-a well-described Martian analog (Cabrol et al, 2001;Cabrol et al, 2007;Gómez-Silva et al, 2008;Gómez-Silva, 2010;Artieda et al, 2015;Wilhelm et al, 2018;Kereszturi et al, 2020).…”

Section: Site Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, surface measurements in the High Andes recorded the highest solar radiation levels on Earth, including UVB (Cabrol et al, 2014;Albarracin et al, 2015;Häder and Cabrol, 2018;Häder and Cabrol, 2020). The thin atmosphere produces sudden and sharp daily temperature (T) and relative humidity (Warren-Rhodes et al, in review;Kereszturi et al, 2020) fluctuations that generate high UV/ T ratios further extending the Salar de Pajonales region's environmental analogies to Martian conditions. Salar de Pajonales furnishes a window into the possible last microbial refugia on Mars as the climate shifted and water disappeared from the surface (Davila and Schulze-Makuch, 2016) Here we open that climatological window by evaluating the morphological and mineralogical properties of the salar and its implications for evaporitic basins on Mars during the Noachian through early Hesperian (Cabrol et al, 2018;Kite, 2019;Wordsworth et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

Hinman

Hofmann

Warren-Rhodes

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Salar de Pajonales, a Ca-sulfate salt flat in the Chilean High Andes, showcases the type of polyextreme environment recognized as one of the best terrestrial analogs for early Mars because of its aridity, high solar irradiance, salinity, and oxidation. The surface of the salar represents a natural climate-transition experiment where contemporary lagoons transition into infrequently inundated areas, salt crusts, and lastly dry exposed paleoterraces. These surface features represent different evolutionary stages in the transition from previously wetter climatic conditions to much drier conditions today. These same stages closely mirror the climate transition on Mars from a wetter early Noachian to the Noachian/Hesperian. Salar de Pajonales thus provides a unique window into what the last near-surface oases for microbial life on Mars could have been like in hypersaline environments as the climate changed and water disappeared from the surface. Here we open that climatological window by evaluating the narrative recorded in the salar surface morphology and microenvironments and extrapolating to similar paleosettings on Mars. Our observations suggest a strong inter-dependence between small and large scale features that we interpret to be controlled by extrabasinal changes in environmental conditions, such as precipitation-evaporation-balance changes and thermal cycles, and most importantly, by internal processes, such as hydration/dehydration, efflorescence/deliquescence, and recrystallization brought about by physical and chemical processes related to changes in groundwater recharge and volcanic processes. Surface structures and textures record a history of hydrological changes that impact the mineralogy and volume of Ca-sulfate layers comprising most of the salar surface. Similar surface features on Mars, interpreted as products of freeze-thaw cycles, could, instead, be products of water-driven, volume changes in salt deposits. On Mars, surface manifestations of such salt-related processes would point to potential water sources. Because hygroscopic salts have been invoked as sources of localized, transient water sufficient to support terrestrial life, such structures might be good targets for biosignature exploration on Mars.

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Section: Site Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

Hinman

Hofmann

Warren-Rhodes

et al. 2022

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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“…Concerning the use of the Puna and the Atacama Desert as planetary analogs, preliminary bibliographical surveys suggested foreign leadership of the scientific research (i.e., unaffiliated to a research organization from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, or Peru). These first impressions were based in particular on several publications concerning the Ojos del Salado region, the world's highest active volcano (6893 m above sea level|27°11S/69°54 W), and its hypothetical potential as a Martian analog (Kereszturi et al., 2020). This foreign leadership was initially surprising, because technical and scientific expertise in geoscience is already present within Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru notably through a history of mining in the Central Andes (Alimonda, 2015; Brown, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trends in planetary science research in the Puna and Atacama Desert regions: Underrepresentation of local scientific institutions?

Tavernier

Pinto

Valenzuela

et al. 2023

Meteorit & Planetary Scien

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In 2019, while launching a multidisciplinary research project aimed at developing the Puna de Atacama region as a natural laboratory, investigators at the University of Atacama (Chile) conducted a bibliographic search identifying previously studied geographic points of the region and of potential interest for planetary science and astrobiology research. This preliminary work highlighted a significant absence of local institutional involvement in international publications. In light of this, a follow-up study was conducted to confirm or refute these first impressions, by comparing the search in two bibliographic databases: Web of Science and Scopus. The results show that almost 60% of the publications based directly on data from the Puna, the Altiplano, or the Atacama Desert with objectives related to planetary science or astrobiology do not include any local institutional partner (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru). Indeed, and beyond the ethical questioning of international collaborations, Latin-American planetary science deserves a strategic structuring, networking, as well as a road map at national and continental scales, not only to enhance research, development, and innovation, but also to protect an exceptional natural heritage sampling extreme environmental niches on Earth. Examples of successful international collaborations such as the field of meteorites, terrestrial analogs, and space exploration in Chile or astrobiology in Mexico are given as illustrations and possible directions to follow to develop planetary science in South America. To promote appropriate scientific practices involving local researchers, possible responses at academic and institutional levels will eventually be discussed.

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Optical borehole-wall analysis – Useful method for planetary environment reconstruction

et al. 2022

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Cold, Dry, Windy, and UV Irradiated: Surveying Mars-Relevant Conditions in Ojos del Salado Volcano (Andes Mountains, Chile)

Cited by 9 publications

References 30 publications

Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

Trends in planetary science research in the Puna and Atacama Desert regions: Underrepresentation of local scientific institutions?

Optical borehole-wall analysis – Useful method for planetary environment reconstruction

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