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A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, MarsThe Curiosity rover discovered fine-grained sedimentary rocks, which are inferred to represent an ancient lake and preserve evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support a martian biosphere founded on chemolithoautotrophy. This aqueous environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable redox states of both iron and sulfur species. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus were measured directly as key biogenic elements; by inference, phosphorus is assumed to have been available. The environment probably had a minimum duration of hundreds to tens of thousands of years. These results highlight the biological viability of fluvial-lacustrine environments in the post-Noachian history of Mars.
Document ID
20150008374
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
doi:10.1126/science.1242777
Authors
Grotzinger, J. P. (California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sumner, D. Y. (California Univ. Davis, CA, United States)
Kah, L. C. (Tennessee Univ. Knoxville, TN, United States)
Stack, K. (California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Gupta, S. (Imperial Coll. of London London, United Kingdom)
Edgar, L. (Arizona State Univ. Tempe, AZ, United States)
Rubin, D. (Geological Survey Santa Cruz, CA, United States)
Lewis, K. (Princeton Univ. Princeton, NJ, United States)
Schieber, J. (Indiana Univ. Bloomington, IN, United States)
Mangold, N. (Laboratoire de Planetologie et Geodynamique de Nantes (LPG) Nantes, France)
Milliken, R. (Brown Univ. Providence, RI, United States)
Conrad, P. G. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
DesMarais, D. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Farmer, J. (Arizona State Univ. Tempe, AZ, United States)
Siebach, K. (California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Calef, F., III (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Hurowitz, J. (State Univ. of New York Stony Brook, NY, United States)
McLennan, S. M. (State Univ. of New York Stony Brook, NY, United States)
Ming, D. (Jacobs Technology, Inc. Houston, TX, United States)
Vaniman, D. (Planetary Science Inst. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Crisp, J. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Vasavada, A. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Edgett, K. S. (Malin Space Science Systems San Diego, CA, United States)
Malin, M. (Malin Space Science Systems San Diego, CA, United States)
Blake, D. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Gellert, R. (Guelph Univ. Ontario, Canada)
Mahaffy, P. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Wiens, R. C. (Los Alamos Scientific Lab. NM, United States)
Maurice, S. (Research Inst. in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) Toulouse, France)
Grant, J. A. (National Air and Space Museum Washington, DC, United States)
Wilson, S. (National Air and Space Museum Washington, DC, United States)
Anderson, R. C. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Beegle, L. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Arvidson, R. (Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO, United States)
Hallet, B. (Washington Univ. Seattle, WA, United States)
Bristow, T. F. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Eigenbrode, J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Meyer, M. (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Date Acquired
May 19, 2015
Publication Date
December 9, 2013
Publication Information
Publication: Science
Publisher: AAAS
Volume: 343
Issue: 6169
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Exobiology
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN21481
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
Keywords
Mars
Gael Crater
fluvio-lacustrine
Yellowknife bay

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