Abstract:As we look for traces of ancient life on Mars, we need to consider the impact of ionizing radiation in the biosignature preservation process. Here, we irradiated two organic rich terrestrial samples (Enspel and Messel shales) that have Martian analog mineralogies, with simulated cosmic rays to a dose of 0.9 MGy, equivalent of 15 million years of radiation exposure on the Martian surface. We compared a range of biosignatures before and after exposure, including total organic carbon, bulk stable carbon isotope r… Show more
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