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Creator |
34150f2f89a55de66712a0576f106400 |
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Creator |
7c9060b8651fa54e11ffd46d3aba6da8 |
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Creator |
bd12e480200a0e58504d6106bfed3c8a |
| 55795 |
Creator |
139c815d0fd081f9ac53d0663422430d |
| 55795 |
Creator |
089f4d750501c85d46bcdf110c85dbac |
| 55795 |
Creator |
ext-c7f51df3b4868e963d7c85970a1a221e |
| 55795 |
Date |
2018-06-30 |
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Is Part Of |
repository |
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Is Part Of |
p20762607 |
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abstract |
Evidence indicates that Gale crater on Mars harboured a fluvio-lacustrine environment
that was subjected to physio-chemical variations such as changes in redox conditions
and evaporation with salinity changes, over time. Microbial communities from terrestrial
environmental analogues sites are important for studying such potential habitability
environments on early Mars, especially in laboratory-based simulation experiments.
Traditionally, such studies have predominantly focused on microorganisms from extreme
terrestrial environments. These are applicable to a range of Martian environments;
however, they lack relevance to the lacustrine systems. In this study, we characterise
an anoxic inter-tidal zone as a terrestrial analogue for the Gale crater lake system
according to its chemical and physical properties, and its microbiological community.
The sub-surface inter-tidal environment of the River Dee estuary, United Kingdom (53°21'015.40"
N, 3°10'024.95" W) was selected and compared with available data from Early Hesperian-time
Gale crater, and temperature, redox, and pH were similar. Compared to subsurface ‘groundwater’-type
fluids invoked for the Gale subsurface, salinity was higher at the River Dee site,
which are more comparable to increases in salinity that likely occurred as the Gale
crater lake evolved. Similarities in clay abundance indicated similar access to, specifically,
the bio-essential elements Mg, Fe and K. The River Dee microbial community consisted
of taxa that were known to have members that could utilise chemolithoautotrophic and
chemoorganoheterotrophic metabolism and such a mixed metabolic capability would potentially
have been feasible on Mars. Microorganisms isolated from the site were able to grow
under environment conditions that, based on mineralogical data, were similar to that
of the Gale crater’s aqueous environment at Yellowknife Bay. Thus, the results from
this study suggest that the microbial community from an anoxic inter-tidal zone is
a plausible terrestrial analogue for studying habitability
of fluvio-lacustrine systems on early Mars, using laboratory-based simulation experiments. |
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authorList |
authors |
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issue |
3 |
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status |
published |
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status |
peerReviewed |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656144 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656152 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656153 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656154 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656155 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/656156 |
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uri |
http://data.open.ac.uk/oro/document/662674 |
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volume |
6 |
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type |
AcademicArticle |
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type |
Article |
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label |
Curtis-Harper, Elliot ; Pearson, Victoria K. ; Summers, Stephen ; Bridges, John
C.; Schwenzer, Susanne P. and Olsson-Francis, Karen (2018). The Microbial Community
of a Terrestrial Anoxic Inter-Tidal Zone: A Model for Laboratory-Based Studies of
Potentially Habitable Ancient Lacustrine Systems on Mars. Microorganisms, 6(3), article
no. 61. |
| 55795 |
label |
Curtis-Harper, Elliot ; Pearson, Victoria K. ; Summers, Stephen ; Bridges, John C.;
Schwenzer, Susanne P. and Olsson-Francis, Karen (2018). The Microbial Community
of a Terrestrial Anoxic Inter-Tidal Zone: A Model for Laboratory-Based Studies of
Potentially Habitable Ancient Lacustrine Systems on Mars. Microorganisms, 6(3), article
no. 61. |
| 55795 |
Title |
The Microbial Community of a Terrestrial Anoxic Inter-Tidal Zone: A Model for Laboratory-Based
Studies of Potentially Habitable Ancient Lacustrine Systems on Mars |
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in dataset |
oro |