干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Surface Morphologies in a Mars-Analog Ca-Sulfate Salar, High Andes, Northern Chile

Arid

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
通讯作者	Hinman, NW
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, Green Published
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
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.,...&Parro, Victor.(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).