Evolution of Altiplanic Lakes at the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition: A Window Into Early Mars Declining Habitability, Changing Habitats, and Biosignatures

Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Grin, E. A.; Zippi, Pierre A.; Noffke, Nora; Winter, D.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809935-3.00006-2

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…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). We test the hypothesis that hydrological processes on a time scale relevant to recent climate changes, coupled with volcanic processes, are the major control on surface morphology in this Martian analog.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Salar de Pajonales is an excellent analog for evaporitic basins on Mars because of its high UV radiation, relatively thin atmosphere, broad diurnal and annual temperature variations, volcanic and hydrothermal activity, mineralogy, morphology, geomorphology, salt abundance, and aridity (Cabrol et al, 2001;Bada et al, 2003;McKay et al, 2003;Wettergreen et al, 2005;Grunthaner et al, 2006;Warren-Rhodes et al, 2007a;Warren-Rhodes et al, 2007b;Cabrol et al, 2007;Piatek et al, 2007;Gómez-Silva et al, 2008;Fairen et al, 2010;Fiahaut et al, 2017;Cabrol et al, 2018;Wilhelm et al, 2018). Our evidence suggests that repeated wetting and drying cycles are responsible for the geomorphic and petrographic characteristics of surface structures at the Dome Field.…”

Section: Implications For Mars Explorationmentioning

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: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Section: Implications For Mars Explorationmentioning

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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“…Another relevant aspect of the Salar de Huasco is the great microbial diversity that has been little explored ( Dorador et al, 2010 , 2013 ; Molina et al, 2016 ; Castro-Severyn et al, 2017 ). The co-occurrence of stress factors throughout the whole Chilean Altiplano and the great diversity of microorganisms able to prosper under these extreme conditions have promoted these ecosystems as models for extra planetary life to test the limits of life, as well as reservoirs for new/unknown metabolism pathways/molecular mechanism ( Cabrol et al, 2009a , b , 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic Variation and Arsenic Tolerance Emerged as Niche Specific Adaptations by Different Exiguobacterium Strains Isolated From the Extreme Salar de Huasco Environment in Chilean – Altiplano

et al. 2020

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“…), the El Tatio geyser field in the Chilean Andes represents one of the best Martian analogs (e.g., Ruff and Farmer, 2016 ) because of the number of features resembling the Early Mars. Such common features include the high elevation of El Tatio (4,320 masl), which makes the Andean geyser field a unique environment with harsh conditions similar to some on Mars ( Cabrol et al, 2007 , 2018 ), such as an intense surface ratio of UV radiation ( Cabrol et al, 2014 ), a large daily thermal oscillation, or high atmospheric dryness (i.e., a precipitation rate of 100 mm per year) ( Fernández-Turiel et al, 2005 ). Thus, the El Tatio geyser field is a unique scenario to investigate the distribution of microbial life in high-altitude extreme conditions and to learn about the preservation of biosignatures in sinter deposits that resemble opaline silica outcrops described on Mars.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lipid Profiles From Fresh Biofilms Along a Temperature Gradient on a Hydrothermal Stream at El Tatio (Chilean Andes), as a Proxy for the Interpretation of Past and Present Biomarkers Beyond Earth

et al. 2022

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Hydrothermal systems and their deposits are primary targets in the search for fossil evidence of life beyond Earth. However, to learn how to decode fossil biomarker records in ancient hydrothermal deposits, we must first be able to interpret unambiguously modern biosignatures, their distribution patterns, and their association with physicochemical factors. Here, we investigated the molecular and isotopic profile of microbial biomarkers along a thermal gradient (from 29 to 72°C) in a hot spring (labeled Cacao) from El Tatio, a geyser field in the Chilean Andes with abundant opaline silica deposits resembling the nodular and digitate structures discovered on Mars. As a molecular forensic approach, we focused on the analysis of lipid compounds bearing recognized resistance to degradation and the potential to reconstruct the paleobiology of an environment on a broader temporal scale than other, more labile, biomolecules. By exploiting the lipid biomarkers’ potential to diagnose biological sources and carbon fixation pathways, we reconstructed the microbial community structure and its ecology along the Cacao hydrothermal transect. The taxonomic adscription of the lipid biomarkers was qualitatively corroborated with DNA sequencing analysis. The forensic capacity of the lipid biomarkers to identify biosources in fresh biofilms was validated down to the genus level for Roseiflexus, Chloroflexus, and Fischerella. We identified lipid biomarkers and DNA of several new cyanobacterial species in El Tatio and reported the first detection of Fischerella biomarkers at a temperature as high as 72°C. This, together with ecological peculiarities and the proportion of clades being characterized as unclassified, illustrates the ecological singularity of El Tatio and strengthens its astrobiological relevance. The Cacao hydrothermal ecosystem was defined by a succession of microbial communities and metabolic traits associated with a high- (72°C) to low-(29°C) temperature gradient that resembled the inferred metabolic sequence events from the 16S rRNA gene universal phylogenetic tree from thermophilic to anoxygenic photosynthetic species and oxygenic phototrophs. The locally calibrated DNA-validated lipidic profile in the Cacao biofilms provided a modern (molecular and isotopic) end member to facilitate the recognition of past biosources and metabolisms from altered biomarkers records in ancient silica deposits at El Tatio analogous to Martian opaline silica structures.

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Evolution of Altiplanic Lakes at the Pleistocene/Holocene Transition: A Window Into Early Mars Declining Habitability, Changing Habitats, and Biosignatures

Cited by 6 publications

References 48 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

Genomic Variation and Arsenic Tolerance Emerged as Niche Specific Adaptations by Different Exiguobacterium Strains Isolated From the Extreme Salar de Huasco Environment in Chilean – Altiplano

Lipid Profiles From Fresh Biofilms Along a Temperature Gradient on a Hydrothermal Stream at El Tatio (Chilean Andes), as a Proxy for the Interpretation of Past and Present Biomarkers Beyond Earth

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