Astrobiological Field Campaign to a Volcanosedimentary Mars Analogue Methane Producing Subsurface Protected Ecosystem: Imuruk Lake (Alaska)

F Gómez,O Prieto-Ballesteros,J Gómez-Elvira,N Rodríguez,J Torres Redondo,R Amils,J A Rodríguez-Manfredi,M Postigo Cacho,D Fernández-Remolar,M Fernández-Sampedro

doi:10.1155/2011/953936

Abstract

Viking missions reported adverse conditions for life in Mars surface. High hydrogen signal obtained by Mars orbiters has increased the interest in subsurface prospection as putative protected Mars environment with life potential. Permafrost has attracted considerable interest from an astrobiological point of view due to the recently reported results from the Mars exploration rovers. Considerable studies have been developed on extreme ecosystems and permafrost in particular, to evaluate the possibility of life on Mars and to test specific automated life detection instruments for space missions. The biodiversity of permafrost located on the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve has been studied as an example of subsurface protected niche of astrobiological interest. Different conventional (enrichment and isolation) and molecular ecology techniques (cloning, fluorescence“in situ”probe hybridization, FISH) have been used for isolation and bacterial identification.

Highlights

Due to the reported Mars surface environmental conditions [1] the possibility for life development in the surface of the red planet is very small
We identified an interesting volcanic area associated with permafrost in the region of Imuruk Lake (Alaska)
The tomography diagrams obtained from the 13 lines were used for permafrost localization (Figure 3), to determine the drilling points and the sampling depths for microbiology analysis

Summary

Introduction

Due to the reported Mars surface environmental conditions [1] (oxidative stress, high UV radiation levels, etc.) the possibility for life development in the surface of the red planet is very small. With the idea of a future development of instrumentation for automated remote life detection systems on permafrost, three main objectives were considered during the expedition: (1) permafrost localization and characterization by geophysical techniques and drilling; (2) microbial diversity analysis, with special interest on deeper part of the column, the oldest part of the permafrost; define pattern preservation of biosignatures in cold environment which is of extraordinaire astrobiological interest for future missions to Mars; (3) understanding cold ecosystem functional model to facilitate permafrost niches detection and mapping to implement new instrumentation for detection and mapping of permafrost. Niches where life (or biochemical tracers of past life) may be preserved Those new techniques will be of special interest for future automated astrobiological missions to Mars. New techniques and methodologies for studying these putative habitats need to be developed [7]

Material and Methods

Results and Discussion

Conclusions