Habitats and taphonomy of Europa

Lipps, Jere H.; Rieboldt, S.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.010

Cited by 21 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…On Triton, the largest moon of Neptune, geyser-like vents seem to be produced by nitrogen gas [20], whereas on Dione and Tethys, two other Saturnian moons, ice geysers might be present [21]. In addition, on Jupiter's moon Europa hydrothermal vents are assumed [22].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Modern Extreme Hydrothermal Environments Inform the Identification of Martian Habitability? The Case of the El Tatio Geyser Field

Barbieri

Cavalazzi

2014

Challenges

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Despite the success in knowledge gained by the Mars missions in the last two decades, the search for traces of life on Mars is still in progress. The reconstruction of (paleo-) environments on Mars have seen a dramatic increase, in particular with regard to the potentially habitable conditions, and it is now possible to recognize a significant role to subaerial hydrothermal processes. For this reason, and because the conditions of the primordial Earth-when these extreme environments had to be common-probably resembled Mars during its most suitable time to host life, research on terrestrial extreme hydrothermal habitats may assist in understanding how to recognize life on Mars. A number of geological and environmental reasons, and logistics opportunities, make the geothermal field of El Tatio, in the Chilean Andes an ideal location to study.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Modern Extreme Hydrothermal Environments Inform the Identification of Martian Habitability? The Case of the El Tatio Geyser Field

Barbieri

Cavalazzi

2014

Challenges

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“…There is a general agreement to the presence of a subsurface water ocean, estimated to be 100 km thick [115], covered with an ice crust estimated to be about 20-30 km thick [116]. Tidal forces and deep-sea vents may provide energy to keep the ice melted [117][118][119]. Due to the presence of such an ocean, Europa has been considered the most promising target in the search for extant extraterrestrial life within the Solar System.…”

Section: Europamentioning

confidence: 99%

Resistance of Microorganisms to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Its Contribution to Astrobiology

Rampelotto

2010

Sustainability

129

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Abstract:In the last decades, substantial changes have occurred regarding what scientists consider the limits of habitable environmental conditions. For every extreme environmental condition investigated, a variety of microorganisms have shown that not only can they tolerate these conditions, but that they also often require these extreme conditions for survival. Microbes can return to life even after hundreds of millions of years. Furthermore, a variety of studies demonstrate that microorganisms can survive under extreme conditions, such as ultracentrifugation, hypervelocity, shock pressure, high temperature variations, vacuums, and different ultraviolet and ionizing radiation intensities, which simulate the conditions that microbes could experience during the ejection from one planet, the journey through space, as well as the impact in another planet. With these discoveries, our knowledge about the biosphere has grown and the putative boundaries of life have expanded. The present work examines the recent discoveries and the principal advances concerning the resistance of microorganisms to extreme environmental conditions, and analyzes its contributions to the development of the main themes of astrobiology: the origins of life, the search for extraterrestrial life, and the dispersion of life in the Universe.

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“…Biological organisms may exist, active or latent, inside the icy shell of Europa, at places such as fractures, veins or liquid reservoirs (e.g., Greenberg et al 2000;Marion et al 2003;Lipps and Rieboldt 2005). Beneath this shell an internal ocean may exist, as suggested by geological evidence (e.g., Pappalardo et al 1999), and strongly implied by the magnetic signature of a conductive electric layer within a few tens of kilometers at most of the surface (Kivelson et al 2000;Schilling et al 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to these low temperatures, the possible biological activity inside the stagnant lid would be restricted, at most, to its lowest part, although convection in the ice shell could facilitate communication and material interchange between the base of the stagnant lid and the internal ocean. Thermal upwelling plumes transport materials (which could include nutrients, metabolic products, or microorganisms) from the lowest ice shell, and potentially from the ice shell/internal ocean interphase, to the upper ice shell, and even to the surface if the terrain is sufficiently disrupted (Pappalardo and Head 2001;Lipps and Rieboldt 2005). Thermal diapirs might themselves be habitable (Price 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Diapirism and the Habitability of the Icy Shellof Europa

Ruíz

Montoya

López

et al. 2007

Orig Life Evol Biosph

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Europa's chaos and lenticulae features may have originated by thermal diapirs related to convective plumes. Warm ice plumes could be habitable, since their temperature is close to the ice melting temperature. Moreover, thermal plumes intruding into the lower stagnant lid warm several kilometers of country ice above 230 K for periods of 10(5) years, and hundreds of meters above 240 K for periods of 10(4) years. Diapir coalescence generating chaos areas should provide a large zone with temperature above approximately 240 K for thousands of years. A temperature above approximately 230 K is potentially interesting for astrobiology, since it corresponds to the lowest temperature at which microbial metabolic activity in Antarctic ice has been reported. So, the warming by thermal plumes could cause an aureole of biological activation/reactivation in the country ice. Adaptation of life to either high salinity or low temperature is similar: it requires the synthesis of compatible solutes, like trehalose or glycerol, which are efficient cryoprotectants. We therefore propose that the future astrobiological exploration of Europa should include the search for compatible solutes in chaos and lenticulae features.

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Habitats and taphonomy of Europa

Cited by 21 publications

References 56 publications

How Do Modern Extreme Hydrothermal Environments Inform the Identification of Martian Habitability? The Case of the El Tatio Geyser Field

How Do Modern Extreme Hydrothermal Environments Inform the Identification of Martian Habitability? The Case of the El Tatio Geyser Field

Resistance of Microorganisms to Extreme Environmental Conditions and Its Contribution to Astrobiology

Thermal Diapirism and the Habitability of the Icy Shellof Europa

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