Volcano – Ice Interaction as a Microbial Habitat on Earth and Mars
Date
09/2011Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Volcano-ice interaction has been a widespread geological process on Earth that continues to occur to the present day. The interaction between volcanic activity and ice can generate substantial quantities of liquid water, together with steep thermal and geochemical gradients typical of hydrothermal systems. Environments available for microbial colonization within glaciovolcanic systems are wide-ranging and include the basaltic lava edifice, subglacial caldera meltwater lakes, glacier caves, and subsurface hydrothermal systems. There is widespread evidence of putative volcano-ice interaction on Mars throughout its history and at a range of latitudes. Therefore, it is possible that life on Mars may have exploited these habitats, much in the same way as has been observed on Earth. The sedimentary and mineralogical deposits resulting from volcano-ice interaction have the potential to preserve evidence of any indigenous microbial populations. These include jökulhlaup (subglacial outflow) sedimentary deposits, hydrothermal mineral deposits, basaltic lava flows, and subglacial lacustrine deposits. Here, we briefly review the evidence for volcano-ice interactions on Mars and discuss the geomicrobiology of volcano-ice habitats on Earth. In addition, we explore the potential for the detection of these environments on Mars and any biosignatures these deposits may contain.
Citation
Cousins , C R & Crawford , I 2011 , ' Volcano – Ice Interaction as a Microbial Habitat on Earth and Mars ' , Astrobiology , vol. 11 , no. 7 , pp. 695-710 . https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2010.0550
Publication
Astrobiology
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1531-1074Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1089/ast.2010.0550
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