Microscale investigation into the geochemistry of arsenic, selenium, and iron in soil developed in pyritic shale materials

Strawn, Daniel G.; Doner, H. E.; Zavarin, Mavrik; McHugo, Scott A.

doi:10.1016/s0016-7061(02)00133-7

Cited by 128 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Samples of jarosite were collected in the Panoche Valley, CA (N 36 o 37.215; W 120 o 39.229) (19). The samples were ground, and 1 g was placed in the Mars Organic Detector (MOD) for sublimation (20,21).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evaluation of a microdevice for amino acid biomarker detection and analysis on Mars

Skelley

Scherer

Aubrey

et al. 2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

250

252

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The Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA), a microfabricated capillary electrophoresis (CE) instrument for sensitive amino acid biomarker analysis, has been developed and evaluated. The microdevice consists of a four-wafer sandwich combining glass CE separation channels, microfabricated pneumatic membrane valves and pumps, and a nanoliter fluidic network. The portable MOA instrument integrates high voltage CE power supplies, pneumatic controls, and fluorescence detection optics necessary for field operation. The amino acid concentration sensitivities range from micromolar to 0.1 nM, corresponding to part-per-trillion sensitivity. The MOA was first used in the lab to analyze soil extracts from the Atacama Desert, Chile, detecting amino acids ranging from 10 -600 parts per billion. Field tests of the MOA in the Panoche Valley, CA, successfully detected amino acids at 70 parts per trillion to 100 parts per billion in jarosite, a sulfate-rich mineral associated with liquid water that was recently detected on Mars. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using the MOA to perform sensitive in situ amino acid biomarker analysis on soil samples representative of a Mars-like environment.amino acid analysis ͉ astrobiology ͉ capillary electrophoresis ͉ microfabrication E xtraterrestrial life on Mars or elsewhere most likely requires three fundamental elements: liquid water, organic molecules capable of forming combinatorial polymers, and a redox energy source (1). The Mars Global Surveyor imaged features attributed to aqueous seeps (2), and the Mars Exploration Rovers recently detected mineralogical signs of liquid water (3). Opportunity observed rocks with layering patterns that could have been formed by water, the Mössbauer spectrometer detected significant concentrations of jarosite, an iron-sulfate mineral that is only formed in the presence of liquid water, and the alphaparticle x-ray spectrometer detected abundant sulfates (3). These observations point to the existence of a liquid habitat on Mars that could have supported life.Attempts have already been made to detect organic molecules on Mars. The Viking landers carried pyrolysis gas chromatograph͞mass spectrometers (GCMS) that did not detect significant organic molecules (4). This result does not preclude the presence of organic molecules on Mars because of the difficulty of detecting low levels of organics in situ in a highly oxidizing environment (1, 5). It has been suggested that the Viking pyrolysis GCMS would not have detected even high concentrations of the remnants of organisms in soil because of the low volatility of organic oxidation products (5); similar difficulties were encountered when duplicating the Viking experiments in an arid terrestrial environment (6). In addition, water and CO 2 interfere with the detection of likely organic pyrolysis products, resulting in an elevated detection limit of Ϸ10 ppm (7). Improved instrumentation must be developed that is capable of sensitive detection and analysis of key biomarkers from Mars-like soils.Microfabricated m...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and evaluation of a microdevice for amino acid biomarker detection and analysis on Mars

Skelley

Scherer

Aubrey

et al. 2005

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

250

252

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“…For comparison, we also analyzed samples from wetter desert areas in the Atacama and Mojave (in the southwestern U.S.) Deserts. We also analyzed samples of jarosite-containing soils from the Rio Tinto in Spain (15) and the Panoche Valley in California (16). These soils may be analogs for the soils detected by the Mars exploration rover at the Meridiani Planum site on Mars (17).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization–gas chromatography–MS and their implications for the Viking results

Navarro‐González¹,

Navarro²,

Rosa³

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

158

107

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The failure of Viking Lander thermal volatilization (TV) (without or with thermal degradation)-gas chromatography (GC)-MS experiments to detect organics suggests chemical rather than biological interpretations for the reactivity of the martian soil. Here, we report that TV-GC-MS may be blind to low levels of organics on astrobiology ͉ detection of organics ͉ search for martian life ͉ extreme environments ͉ deserts

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“…Also, there are specific parent materials that have extremely high concentrations of selected elements (Table 1). For example, certain sedimentary deposits (organic rich coastal sediments and marls) are high in As due to presence of sulfidic materials (Chen et al 2002;Gough et al 1996) and geologic deposits rich in pyritic sulfur minerals contain enrichment of both As and Se (Strawn et al 2002). Selected soils located on both coasts of the US are high in Co, Ni, and Cr due to formation (i.e.…”

Section: Parent Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemistry in the modern soil survey program

Wilson¹,

Burt²,

Indorante³

et al. 2007

Environ Monit Assess

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Microscale investigation into the geochemistry of arsenic, selenium, and iron in soil developed in pyritic shale materials

Cited by 128 publications

References 34 publications

Development and evaluation of a microdevice for amino acid biomarker detection and analysis on Mars

Development and evaluation of a microdevice for amino acid biomarker detection and analysis on Mars

The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization–gas chromatography–MS and their implications for the Viking results

Geochemistry in the modern soil survey program

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