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ma=86400 Geochemical context for hydrothermal organic molecules in Mars-analogue samples from Earth | Nature Astronomy
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Geochemical context for hydrothermal organic molecules in Mars-analogue samples from Earth

Nature Astronomy volume 8, pages 1513–1520 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Hydrothermal environments—where chemical interactions between heated water and rock take place—are of great interest for astrobiology as they may create habitable environments and preserve signs of life. Several planetary bodies display evidence of hydrothermalism, including Mars, which has possessed various hydrothermal environments that could alter organic signals, complicating assessments of biogenicity and our understanding of the depositional environment and subsequent alteration processes. Organic molecules from Earth-based hydrothermal systems serve as an analogue for what we might find on Mars and are typically made up of complex mixtures of in situ and transported molecules that have been altered by diverse mechanisms. Improving our understanding of the processes that drive the preservation and circulation of organic molecules in Earth-based hydrothermal settings is crucial, as the sources and fates of these molecules in marine hydrothermal environments are different from those in subaerial (land-based) hydrothermal environments, even if many of the processes that govern the transport and alteration of this organic matter seem to be similar. To understand the origen of organic molecules found in samples from another world, we must critically evaluate the processes that alter these molecules in terrestrial hydrothermal samples.

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Fig. 1: Schematic showing the potential sources, alteration and migration pathways of OM.
Fig. 2: Geological timescales of Earth and Mars and the corresponding preservation potential of OM and Martian exploration missions.

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Acknowledgements

B.L.T. and L.M.B. were supported by NASA PSTAR ‘In-Situ Vent Analysis Divebot for Exobiology Research’. This research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA (contract number 80NM0018D004). T.L.H. and J.R.H. were supported by NSF grant number 1939303 and NASA Exobiology grant number 80NSSC20K0614.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA

    Bronwyn L. Teece & Laura M. Barge

  2. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Jeff R. Havig & Trinity L. Hamilton

  3. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jeff R. Havig

  4. The Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Trinity L. Hamilton

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B.L.T. conceived the initial idea, and developed it with input from J.R.H., T.L.H. and L.M.B. B.L.T. wrote the first draft with substantial input from L.M.B. All authors edited the paper. B.L.T. designed and constructed Figs. 1 and 2 and J.R.H designed and constructed the figure in Box 1.

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Correspondence to Bronwyn L. Teece.

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Teece, B.L., Havig, J.R., Hamilton, T.L. et al. Geochemical context for hydrothermal organic molecules in Mars-analogue samples from Earth. Nat Astron 8, 1513–1520 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-024-02435-0

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