Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt analogue for martian nakhlite: a signpost to habitat on Mars

John Parnell; Sean McMahon; Nigel J F Blamey; Ian B Hutchinson; Liam V Harris; Richard Ingley; Howell G M Edwards; Edward Lynch; Martin Feely

doi:10.1017/S1473550413000360

Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt analogue for martian nakhlite: a signpost to habitat on Mars

John Parnell^*, Sean McMahon, Nigel J F Blamey, Ian B Hutchinson, Liam V Harris, Richard Ingley, Howell G M Edwards, Edward Lynch, Martin Feely

^*Corresponding author for this work

Geology and Geophysics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)

6 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Nakhla meteorite represents basaltic rock from the martian upper crust, with reduced carbon indicative of the ingress of carbonaceous fluids. Study of a terrestrial analogue basalt with reduced carbon from the Ordovician of Northern Ireland shows that remote analysis could detect the carbon using Raman spectroscopy. Analysis of gases released by crushing detects methane-rich fluids in the basalt and especially in cross-cutting carbon-bearing veinlets. The results suggest that automated analysis on Mars could detect the reduced carbon, which may be derived from magmatic and/or meteoritic infall sources.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	124-131
Number of pages	8
Journal	International Journal of Astrobiology
Volume	13
Issue number	2
Early online date	25 Oct 2013
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550413000360
Publication status	Published - Apr 2014

Bibliographical note

C. W. Taylor and J. Still are thanked for skilled technical support. J. Parnell, H.G.M. Edwards, I. Hutchinson and R. Ingley acknowledge the support of the UKSA and the
STFC Research Council in the UK ExoMars programme. L. V. Harris and S. McMahon acknowledge STFC studentship funding.

Keywords

basalt
nakhlite
Mars
Raman spectroscopy
carbon
raman spectrometer
sampling methane
SNC meteorite
fluids
earth
serpentinization
identification
spectroscopy
astrobiology
inclusions

Access to Document

10.1017/S1473550413000360

Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt
© Cambridge University Press 2013 The international Journal of Astrobiology: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=IJA
Final published version, 461 KB

Cite this

@article{b577b01e844f4e49b0a0f7a9b4dda8d2,

title = "Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt analogue for martian nakhlite: a signpost to habitat on Mars",

abstract = "The Nakhla meteorite represents basaltic rock from the martian upper crust, with reduced carbon indicative of the ingress of carbonaceous fluids. Study of a terrestrial analogue basalt with reduced carbon from the Ordovician of Northern Ireland shows that remote analysis could detect the carbon using Raman spectroscopy. Analysis of gases released by crushing detects methane-rich fluids in the basalt and especially in cross-cutting carbon-bearing veinlets. The results suggest that automated analysis on Mars could detect the reduced carbon, which may be derived from magmatic and/or meteoritic infall sources.",

keywords = "basalt, nakhlite, Mars, Raman spectroscopy, carbon, raman spectrometer, sampling methane, SNC meteorite, fluids, earth, serpentinization, identification, spectroscopy, astrobiology, inclusions",

author = "John Parnell and Sean McMahon and Blamey, {Nigel J F} and Hutchinson, {Ian B} and Harris, {Liam V} and Richard Ingley and Edwards, {Howell G M} and Edward Lynch and Martin Feely",

note = "C. W. Taylor and J. Still are thanked for skilled technical support. J. Parnell, H.G.M. Edwards, I. Hutchinson and R. Ingley acknowledge the support of the UKSA and the STFC Research Council in the UK ExoMars programme. L. V. Harris and S. McMahon acknowledge STFC studentship funding.",

year = "2014",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1017/S1473550413000360",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

pages = "124--131",

journal = "International Journal of Astrobiology",

issn = "1473-5504",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt analogue for martian nakhlite

T2 - a signpost to habitat on Mars

AU - Parnell, John

AU - McMahon, Sean

AU - Blamey, Nigel J F

AU - Hutchinson, Ian B

AU - Harris, Liam V

AU - Ingley, Richard

AU - Edwards, Howell G M

AU - Lynch, Edward

AU - Feely, Martin

N1 - C. W. Taylor and J. Still are thanked for skilled technical support. J. Parnell, H.G.M. Edwards, I. Hutchinson and R. Ingley acknowledge the support of the UKSA and the STFC Research Council in the UK ExoMars programme. L. V. Harris and S. McMahon acknowledge STFC studentship funding.

PY - 2014/4

Y1 - 2014/4

N2 - The Nakhla meteorite represents basaltic rock from the martian upper crust, with reduced carbon indicative of the ingress of carbonaceous fluids. Study of a terrestrial analogue basalt with reduced carbon from the Ordovician of Northern Ireland shows that remote analysis could detect the carbon using Raman spectroscopy. Analysis of gases released by crushing detects methane-rich fluids in the basalt and especially in cross-cutting carbon-bearing veinlets. The results suggest that automated analysis on Mars could detect the reduced carbon, which may be derived from magmatic and/or meteoritic infall sources.

AB - The Nakhla meteorite represents basaltic rock from the martian upper crust, with reduced carbon indicative of the ingress of carbonaceous fluids. Study of a terrestrial analogue basalt with reduced carbon from the Ordovician of Northern Ireland shows that remote analysis could detect the carbon using Raman spectroscopy. Analysis of gases released by crushing detects methane-rich fluids in the basalt and especially in cross-cutting carbon-bearing veinlets. The results suggest that automated analysis on Mars could detect the reduced carbon, which may be derived from magmatic and/or meteoritic infall sources.

KW - basalt

KW - nakhlite

KW - Mars

KW - Raman spectroscopy

KW - carbon

KW - raman spectrometer

KW - sampling methane

KW - SNC meteorite

KW - fluids

KW - earth

KW - serpentinization

KW - identification

KW - spectroscopy

KW - astrobiology

KW - inclusions

U2 - 10.1017/S1473550413000360

DO - 10.1017/S1473550413000360

M3 - Article

SN - 1473-5504

VL - 13

SP - 124

EP - 131

JO - International Journal of Astrobiology

JF - International Journal of Astrobiology

IS - 2

ER -

Detection of reduced carbon in a basalt analogue for martian nakhlite: a signpost to habitat on Mars

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this