Habitability of Martian Noachian Hydrothermal Systems as Constrained by a Terrestrial Analog on the Colorado Plateau

Jake R Crandall,Sally L Potter-Mcintyre,Susanne P Schwenzer,Karen Olsson-Francis,Justin Filiberto,Scott Perl,Nicholas Castle

doi:10.3847/psj/ac053e

Abstract

Abstract Volcanic features and impact craters are ubiquitous features on Mars, and hydrothermal systems associated with the production of these features should have been abundant in Mars’s early history. These hydrothermal systems represent potentially habitable environments and are therefore a high priority for continued investigations of the Martian crust. Here we present a Mars analog study where basaltic magma intruded water-bearing sediments to produce a high-temperature (as high as ∼700°C) hydrothermal system, which we use to constrain the potential habitability of similar systems on Mars via mineralogy and geochemistry including S, C, and O isotopic systematics. Our analog site suggests evidence for a habitable environment once the system cooled below 120°C and the potential presence of microbial activity based on the combination of dolomite and C-isotopic systems in the same sample. These findings highlight the importance of future missions to investigate the interface of sediments with magmas and/or late-stage impact melts where microbial life may have taken hold when temperature conditions allowed.

Highlights

High-temperature hydrothermal systems associated with both volcanic activity and impact processes should have been abundant during the Noachian (Newsom 1980; Farmer 1996; Abramov & Kring 2005; Carr & Head 2010; Rodríguez & Van Bergen 2016)
Samples of the contact zone, the unaltered Entrada Sandstone, and a piece of the Entrada Sandstone incorporated into the dike as xenolithic material were analyzed for mineralogy by X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Sciences Division (ARES) XRD laboratory at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC)
Our study shows that a magmatic intrusion with its temperature gradient and disturbance of the preexisting thermochemical equilibria causes a wide range of mineralforming environments and associated assemblages. Within each of those environments, pH and element availability vary, but most importantly, active processes are ongoing to reestablish the disturbed equilibrium. It is those disequilibrium conditions that are most favorable to be utilized by microbial life and, if conditions persisted for an extended period of time, for specialized microbes to take advantage

Summary

Introduction

High-temperature hydrothermal systems associated with both volcanic activity and impact processes should have been abundant during the Noachian (Newsom 1980; Farmer 1996; Abramov & Kring 2005; Carr & Head 2010; Rodríguez & Van Bergen 2016). It is important to understand those systems through the investigation of terrestrial analogs As one such analog, especially applicable to Jezero and Gusev Craters, Costello et al (2020) previously investigated a mafic dike in the Entrada Sandstone (an iron-cemented fine-grained red silty sandstone) of the San Rafael Swell (Utah, USA) that was hydrothermally altered from contact with reservoir fluids as it was emplaced. Especially applicable to Jezero and Gusev Craters, Costello et al (2020) previously investigated a mafic dike in the Entrada Sandstone (an iron-cemented fine-grained red silty sandstone) of the San Rafael Swell (Utah, USA) that was hydrothermally altered from contact with reservoir fluids as it was emplaced This previous work investigated the effects of hydrothermal alteration on the mineralogy and bulk chemistry of the dike itself.

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Conclusion