Mud Volcanoes of Trinidad as Astrobiological Analogs for Martian Environments

Life

Riad Hosein³  Shirin Haque²  Denise M. Beckles³  Dirk Schulze-Makuch¹ 

[1] Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago;;Department of Physics, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago;Department of Chemistry, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago; E-Mails:

关键词: mud volcanoes;    Trinidad;    chemical profiling;    microbial life;    analog;    Mars;   

DOI  :  10.3390/life4040566

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Eleven onshore mud volcanoes in the southern region of Trinidad have been studied as analog habitats for possible microbial life on Mars. The profiles of the 11 mud volcanoes are presented in terms of their physical, chemical, mineralogical, and soil properties. The mud volcanoes sampled all emitted methane gas consistently at 3% volume. The average pH for the mud volcanic soil was 7.98. The average Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) was found to be 2.16 kg/mol, and the average Percentage Water Content was 34.5%. Samples from three of the volcanoes, (i) Digity; (ii) Piparo and (iii) Devil’s Woodyard were used to culture bacterial colonies under anaerobic conditions indicating possible presence of methanogenic microorganisms. The Trinidad mud volcanoes can serve as analogs for the Martian environment due to similar geological features found extensively on Mars in Acidalia Planitia and the Arabia Terra region.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.