title: Biomarker Analysis of Samples Visually Identified as Microbial in the Eocene Green River Formation: An Analogue for Mars.
abstract: One of the major exploration targets for current and future Mars missions are lithofacies suggestive of biotic activity. Although such lithofacies are not confirmation of biotic activity, they provide a way to identify samples for further analyses. To test the efficacy of this approach, we identified carbonate samples from the Eocene Green River Formation as "microbial" or "non-microbial" based on the macroscale morphology of their laminations. These samples were then crushed and analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) to determine their lipid biomarker composition. GC/MS analysis revealed that carbonates visually identified as "microbial" contained a higher concentration of more diverse biomarkers than those identified as "non-microbial," suggesting that this could be a viable detection strategy for selecting samples for further analysis or caching on Mars.
authors: Department of Geology, The University of Kansas , Lawrence, Kansas.
authors: Alison
authors: A
authors: Olcott Marshall
authors: Department of Geology, The University of Kansas , Lawrence, Kansas.
authors: Nicholas A
authors: NA
authors: Cestari
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis*; D018535:Mars; D064307:Microbiota
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers