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39542 Creator 18324d1cfbffe09df10cfaa5ff6c7a2b
39542 Creator bd12e480200a0e58504d6106bfed3c8a
39542 Creator ext-1cef6fb39751f11afc9ab32ddefe1b05
39542 Creator ext-93ca4db3953a822a9f6ab1769c55c108
39542 Creator ext-bfa3bda471540e7470e24a39ff60c7fa
39542 Date 2012-01
39542 Is Part Of p00191035
39542 Is Part Of repository
39542 abstract Investigations of Mars as a potential location for life often make the assumption that where there are habitats, they will contain organisms. However, the observation of the ubiquitous distribution of life in habitable environments on the Earth does not imply the presence of life in martian habitats. Although uninhabited habitats are extremely rare on the Earth, a lack of a productive photosynthetic biosphere on Mars to generate organic carbon and oxygen, thus providing a rapidly available redox couple for energy acquisition by life and/or a lack of connectivity between habitats potentially increases the scope and abundance of uninhabited habitats for much of the geological history of the planet. Uninhabited habitats could have existed on Mars from the Noachian to the present-day in impact hydrothermal systems, megaflood systems, lacustrine environments, transient melted permafrost, gullies and local regions of volcanic activity; and there may be evidence for them in martian meteorites. Uninhabited habitats would provide control habitats to investigate the role of biology in planetary-scale geochemical processes on the Earth and they would provide new constraints on the habitability of Mars. Future robotic craft and samples returned from Mars will be able to directly show if uninhabited habitats exist or existed on Mars.
39542 authorList authors
39542 issue 1
39542 status peerReviewed
39542 volume 217
39542 type AcademicArticle
39542 type Article
39542 label Cockell, Charles S.; Balme, Matt ; Bridges, John C.; Davila, Alfonso and Schwenzer, Susanne P. (2012). Uninhabited habitats on Mars. Icarus, 217(1) pp. 184–193.
39542 label Cockell, Charles S.; Balme, Matt ; Bridges, John C.; Davila, Alfonso and Schwenzer, Susanne P. (2012). Uninhabited habitats on Mars. Icarus, 217(1) pp. 184–193.
39542 sameAs j.icarus.2011.10.025
39542 Title Uninhabited habitats on Mars
39542 in dataset oro