Knowledge Resource Center for Ecological Environment in Arid Area
DOI | 10.3389/fspas.2021.797591 |
Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile | |
Hinman, Nancy W.; Hofmann, Michael H.; Warren-Rhodes, Kimberly; Phillips, Michael S.; Noffke, Nora; Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Chong Diaz, Guillermo; Demergasso, Cecilia; Tebes-Cayo, Cinthya; Cabestrero, Oscar; Bishop, Janice L.; Gulick, Virginia C.; Summers, David; Sobron, Pablo; McInenly, Michael; Moersch, Jeffrey; Rodriguez, Constanza; Sarazzin, Philippe; Rhodes, Kevin L.; Riffo Contreras, Camila Javiera; Wettergreen, David; Parro, Victor; SETI NAI Team | |
通讯作者 | Hinman, NW (corresponding author),Univ Montana, Dept Geosci, Missoula, MT 59812 USA. |
来源期刊 | FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES |
ISSN | 2296-987X |
出版年 | 2022 |
卷号 | 8 |
英文摘要 | 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. |
英文关键词 | mars evaporite salt pan gypsum (CaSO 2H O) 4 2 Chile Andes Salar |
类型 | Article |
语种 | 英语 |
开放获取类型 | gold |
收录类别 | SCI-E |
WOS记录号 | WOS:000760445800001 |
WOS关键词 | ATACAMA DESERT ; DESICCATION CRACKS ; CLIMATE CHANGES ; HYPERARID CORE ; LYOT CRATER ; BASIN ; GYPSUM ; LIFE ; PRECIPITATION ; ALTIPLANO |
WOS类目 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
WOS研究方向 | Astronomy & Astrophysics |
资源类型 | 期刊论文 |
条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/376322 |
作者单位 | [Hinman, Nancy W.; Hofmann, Michael H.; McInenly, Michael] Univ Montana, Dept Geosci, Missoula, MT 59812 USA; [Warren-Rhodes, Kimberly; Bishop, Janice L.; Gulick, Virginia C.; Summers, David; Sobron, Pablo; Sarazzin, Philippe] SETI Inst, Mountain View, CA USA; [Phillips, Michael S.; Moersch, Jeffrey] Univ Tennessee, Dept Earth & Planetary Sci, Knoxville, TN USA; [Noffke, Nora] Old Dominion Univ, Ocean Earth & Atmospher Sci, Norfolk, VA USA; [Cabrol, Nathalie A.] SETI Inst, Carl Sagan Ctr, Mountain View, CA USA; [Chong Diaz, Guillermo; Cabestrero, Oscar; Rodriguez, Constanza; Riffo Contreras, Camila Javiera] Univ Catolica Norte, Dept Ciencias Geol, Antofagasta, Chile; [Demergasso, Cecilia; Tebes-Cayo, Cinthya] Univ Catolica Norte, Ctr Biotechnol, Antofagasta, Chile; [Gulick, Virginia C.] Natl Aeronaut & Space Adm NASA, Ames Res Ctr, Moffett Field, CA USA; [Rhodes, Kevin L.] MAR Alliance, San Francisco, CA USA; [Wettergreen, David] Carnegie Mellon Univ, Robot Inst, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA; [Parro, Victor] ... |
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Hinman, Nancy W.,Hofmann, Michael H.,Warren-Rhodes, Kimberly,et al. Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile[J],2022,8. |
APA | Hinman, Nancy W..,Hofmann, Michael H..,Warren-Rhodes, Kimberly.,Phillips, Michael S..,Noffke, Nora.,...&SETI NAI Team.(2022).Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile.FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES,8. |
MLA | Hinman, Nancy W.,et al."Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile".FRONTIERS IN ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCES 8(2022). |
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