Infrared transmission spectroscopy of carbonate samples of biotic origin relevant to Mars exobiological studies

Orofino, V.; Blanco, A.; D’Elia, M.; Licchelli, D.; Fonti, S.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2006.10.027

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…This means that a linear correlation could be an extremely good approximation of the actual relation between the index D, directly derived from the spectrum, and the logarithm of the age of the sample. This correlation implies that the recent fossils maintain the characteristic ''fragility" of fresh biominerals (see Orofino et al (2007) for details) while for more ancient fossils the spectroscopic behavior, after heat treatment, becomes increasingly similar to that of abiotic minerals and the D index gets closer to 1. Therefore D could be seen as an index of degradation of the fossil, in the sense that D = 1 implies the impossibility of discriminating between biotic and abiotic carbonate samples.…”

Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The latter transformation is complete at 800-1000°C (Stalport et al, 2005(Stalport et al, , 2007, but it begins at a lower temperature which depend on the biotic or abiotic origin of the sample. In case of recent biominerals, heating at 485°C for 3.5 h is sufficient to start altering their chemical and/or physical properties, while for minerals of abiotic origin higher temperatures are necessary (see Orofino et al (2007) and Paper I for details).…”

Section: Fossil Samples and Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Study of terrestrial fossils in phyllosilicate-rich soils: Implication in the search for biosignatures on Mars

Orofino

Blanco

D’Elia

et al. 2010

Icarus

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Section: Results and Conclusionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fossil Samples and Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of terrestrial fossils in phyllosilicate-rich soils: Implication in the search for biosignatures on Mars

Orofino

Blanco

D’Elia

et al. 2010

Icarus

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“…In the past, different experimental techniques such as IR spectroscopy, gravimetry, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis have been used to investigate spectral, morphological, and compositional modifications induced by thermal processing on different samples [38][39][40][41][42]. The goal was to develop a method able to discriminate biogenic carbonate samples from their abiogenic counterparts, to determine the degree of biogenicity of different samples.…”

Section: Theory and Experiment: Calcite Decompositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the past, the thermal decomposition of WSMs has found other applications in the context of astrobiology. For example, laboratory studies have demonstrated that if calcite (of biotic or abiotic origin) is subjected to thermal process at moderate temperature (485 • C), the resulting partial decomposition of this carbonate, evaluated by IR spectroscopy, may provide precious information about its degree of biogenicity [38][39][40][41][42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kinetics of White Soft Minerals (WSMs) Decomposition under Conditions of Interest for Astrobiology: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

et al. 2019

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In this paper, the thermal decomposition kinetics of a class of minerals that we call White Soft Minerals (WSMs) is studied by means of theoretical and experimental methods, in connection to the transport of extraterrestrial organic matter to Earth and the possible use of the decomposition reaction in the characterization of these minerals in space. WSMs include, under a single denomination, carbonates and sulphates of Mg, Fe, and Ca. To improve the present knowledge of the properties of such materials, we use the following techniques: kinetic models for chemical decomposition, atmospheric entry models, spectroscopy, and gravimetric analyses. Model results show that the atmospheric entry of WSM grains is strongly affected by their thermal decomposition. The decomposition reaction, being strongly endothermic, tends to significantly lower the grain temperature during the atmospheric entry, especially at high altitudes and for grazing entries. A previously proposed infrared spectroscopic technique to evaluate the degree of advancement of the reaction is found to be in good agreement with gravimetric measurements for calcium carbonate. The numerical model developed for the atmospheric entry scenarios is used to interpret experimental results. These main findings show that an additional contribution to the reaction enthalpy is needed to reproduce the experimental results, suggesting that the present theoretical model needs improvements such as the account of gas diffusion in the materials.

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“…The problem of discriminating between biominerals and their abiotic counterparts is far from trivial. Nevertheless by means of thermal processing it is possible to distinguish, using differential thermal analysis (Cabane et al 2004; Stalport et al 2005, 2007) or infrared (IR) spectroscopy (Orofino et al 2007), abiotic CaCO 3 minerals (i.e. aragonite or calcite) from the corresponding biominerals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

SEM morphological studies of carbonates and the search for ancient life on Mars

D’Elia

Blanco

Galiano

et al. 2016

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Next space missions will investigate the possibility of extinct or extant life on Mars. Studying the infrared spectral modifications, induced by thermal processing on different carbonate samples (recent shells and fossils of different ages), we developed a method able to discriminate biogenic carbonates from their abiogenic counterparts. The method has been successfully applied to microbialites, i.e. bio-induced carbonates deposits, and particularly to stromatolites, the laminated fabric of microbialites, some of which can be ascribed to among the oldest traces of biological activity known on Earth. These results are of valuable importance since such carbonates are linked to primitive living organisms that can be considered as good analogues for putative Martian life forms. Considering that the microstructures of biogenic carbonate are different from those of abiogenic origin, we investigated the micromorphology of shells, skeletal grains and microbialites at different scale with a scanning electron microscope. The results show that this line of research may provide an alternative and complementary approach to other techniques developed in the past by our group to distinguish biotic from abiotic carbonates. In this paper, we present some results that can be of valuable interest since they demonstrate the utility for a database of images concerning the structures and textures of relevant carbonate minerals. Such data may be useful for the analysis of Martian samples, coming from sample return missions or investigated by future in situ explorations, aimed to characterize the near-subsurface of Mars in search for past or present life.

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Infrared transmission spectroscopy of carbonate samples of biotic origin relevant to Mars exobiological studies

Cited by 15 publications

References 22 publications

Study of terrestrial fossils in phyllosilicate-rich soils: Implication in the search for biosignatures on Mars

Study of terrestrial fossils in phyllosilicate-rich soils: Implication in the search for biosignatures on Mars

Kinetics of White Soft Minerals (WSMs) Decomposition under Conditions of Interest for Astrobiology: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

SEM morphological studies of carbonates and the search for ancient life on Mars

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