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Presence of Hydrocarbons on Mars

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Presence of Hydrocarbons on Mars OPINION & DISCUSSION AUTHOR P. K. Padhy ~ Retired, Bhubaneswar, India; Presence of hydrocarbons on [email protected] P. K. Padhy obtained his Master’s of Science and Mars: A possibility Technologyanda Ph.D.inappliedgeology from the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad. He contributed P. K. Padhy immensely on sequence stratigraphy and petroleum system of the Krishna–Godavari basin while working at ONGC. He is amongst a few pioneers in evolving the concept of shale oil ABSTRACT and gas exploration and Meso-Neoproterozoic There exists a fair degree of geological similarity between the internal hydrocarbon exploration in India. structure of Mars, its orbital cycle, and axis tilt with that of Earth. The early plate tectonics along with subaerial volcanism have emitted ACKNOWLEDGMENTS oxygen as evident in the geological history of Earth during the The author expresses his deep gratitude Archaean–Proterozoic transition. The ancient Valles Marineris to Olga Popova, Editor-in-Chief, Division equatorial rift basin of Mars could have resulted because of lith- of Environmental Geosciences, for ospheric dynamics. The associated large-scale transtensional strike- her inspiration. The valuable suggestions slip during the Late Amazonian Period further implies manifes- rendered by G. C. Naik and Shishir Kumar tation of possible plate tectonics on Mars. Das have enriched the paper, and the The presence of the earliest organic species, 3.7 billion years ago, author remains grateful to them for their had been established on Earth. The presence of lake and ocean and comprehensive reviews and insightful evidence of glaciation infer probable evolution of life in early Mars. comments. The author is deeply grateful to The depositional morphology like alluvial fans, debris flow fans, deltas, Paula Sillman for her kind help and support. and lacustrine fans implies possible sedimentation processes active on early Mars. Organic matters on Mars could be in situ or could have been delivered by meteorites. The presence of organic molecules of benzene and propane in 3-billion-year-old rock samples has been evidenced in Gale crater. Deposition of source rock and subsequent decomposition of organic matter could have generated hydrocarbons in early Mars. A comparative geological phenomenon between Meso-Neoproterozoic petroleum geology of Earth and the equivalent Amazonian and older periods has been analyzed in the light of the envisaged hydrocarbon generation and entrapment on early Mars. Possible martian petroleum systems of the ancient Valles Marineris rift basin and crater-induced basins including prevalence of gas hydrate and abiotic origin of methane have been studied. Copyright ©2021. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Green Open Access. This paper is published under the terms of the CC-BY license. Manuscript received December 14, 2019; provisional acceptance November 3, 2020; revised manuscript received January 29, 2021; final acceptance February 2, 2021. DOI:10.1306/eg.11032019026 Environmental Geosciences, v. 28, no. 1 (March 2021), pp. 43–52 43 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/eg/article-pdf/28/1/43/5271101/eg19026.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 INTRODUCTION anhydrite, carbonate, and sandstone in different ba- sins of North Africa, Siberia, and Asia (Gulf, Oman, There lies a greater similarity of the evolution history of China, Pakistan, India) and Australia (Craig et al., 2009). Mars, its interior, presence of the possible epeiric sea or By analyzing the petroleum systems of Earth during epicontinental sea, early plate tectonics, associated Meso-Neoproterozoic (1600–540 Ma) time, it is en- mountain building, and rock stratigraphy with that of visaged that Earth analogous early hydrocarbons might our Earth. Based on the impact crater densities, the have been generated and preserved in ideal locales like martian geological time scale has been divided into the ancient Valles Marineris rift and crater-induced Pre-Noachian (4.5–4.1Ga),NoachianPeriod(4.1–3.7 basins. The concept of gas hydrate petroleum system Ga), Hesperian (3.7–3.0 Ga), and Amazonian (3.0 Ga couldbeanotherpromisingresourceonMars,in- to present) with decrease in density of meteorite cluding abiotic methane generated as a fractionation impact during the Amazonian Period (Tanak, 1986). product of magma crystallization, serpentization, and The evolution of planet Mars started during the Pre- by the Fischer–Tropsch-type (FTT) process. Noachian (4.5–4.1 Ga), and there seems to have been an initiation of topographical manifestation of the northern lowlands and the southern highlands during MESO-NEOPROTEROZOIC PETROLEUM this period. During the Noachian Period (4.1–3.7 Ga), SYSTEM ON EARTH ephemeral lakes might have formed in basins and craters along with a shallow ocean in the northern The Proterozoic Period is characterized by crustal sta- lowlands. Possible favorable conditions could have bilization and the evolution of cratonic basins. Theories been prevalent for evolution of life during this period. on early Proterozoic plate movement and Proterozoic rift The Early Noachian witnessed impact-basin formation system have been envisaged based on plume-activated such as Utopia, Hellas, Argyre, and Isidis with volca- lithospheric activities (Wynne-Edwards, 1976; Hoffman, nism. The volcanism with lava flow continued through 1980; Kroner,¨ 1983). The presence of microbes as old as the Hesperian (3.7–3.0 Ga) and gradually decreased in between 3.77 to 4.29 billion yr has been evidenced in the Amazonian Period (3.0 Ga to present). The Early rocks in Canada. The Neoproterozoic Period can be Hesperian witnessed the Valles Marineris rifting with broadly divided into preglacial Neoproterozoic petro- the giant Tharsis volcano. Active fluvial activities have leum systems (1000–750 Ma) and postglacial petroleum been observed from the Late Hesperion through the systems of 750–600 Ma (Craig et al., 2009). Amazonian periods. Episodic glaciation, gully for- The tectono-sedimentation of the Proterozoic rift mation, and polar layered deposits have been observed systems is characterized by the deposition of sedimen- during the Amazonian Period (Carr, 2012). tary rocks. The Neoproterozoic Period witnessed epi- The history of biological evolution on Mars could sodically related Pan-African rift tectonics with have been attributed to either in situ phenomenon or deposition of stromatolitic carbonate, sandstone, an- from outside by meteoritic collisions. The initial de- hydrite, and shale. Generally, the Proterozoic carbonates velopment of biological instinct is broadly influenced are developed in the form of ramps in extensional and by geochemical phenomena because it has been ob- foredeepset-upsandintheformoftherimmedshelf served on Earth since Proterozoic (2.5 billion yr) time. in more-stable thermally subsiding basins (Grotzinger, Mars and Earth have similar 12C/13Cand16O/18O ratios. 1989). During the intervening warm period, there had The excess of 13C in the martian atmosphere over been photosynthetic activity and cyanobacterial meta- 12C could be an indicator of ancient biotic activities bolism that resulted in oxygenation of the atmosphere (Rothschild and DesMarais, 1989). (Young, 2013). The stromatolites biota assemblage The biogenic remains, amorphous organic matter, infers the presence of the late Proterozoic shallow and algal filaments associated with the Proterozoic strata sea platformal shelf environment. The stable carbon have generated hydrocarbons. The Meso-Neoproterozoic (-0.14 to 4.5) and oxygen (-0.4 to -15.9) isotopic petroleum system has been established in various basins compositions of subcrop late Proterozoic age infer of the world with hydrocarbons trapped within the predominance of nearshore environment. basement-controlled structures (Padhy, 1995, 1997). The presence of hydrocarbons in the Proterozoic, The Pan-African tectonism of the Neoproterozoic particularly in the Meso-Neoproterozoic age, has gained age (1000–540 Ma) witnessed the deposition of salt- wider importance. The stromatolitic carbonate corresponds 44 Opinion Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/eg/article-pdf/28/1/43/5271101/eg19026.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 to a global Meso-Proterozoic event with special reference to carbonate-evaporate deposit of Bikaner–Nagaur ba- the depositional and environmental aspects. Stromato- sin is well correlated with the salt range of Punjab lites, biogenic remains, amorphous organic matter, and basin and Hormuz of Gulf basin (Padhy and Singh, algal filaments associated with Proterozoic strata, on deep 1998). The carbonate-evaporite assemblage could be burial, have contributed to the generation of hydro- related to periodical cut off from the open sea (Tucker, carbons. The Meso-Neoproterozoic witnessed a bio- 1991). The tectono-depositional system of Bikaner–Nagaur event with an exposition of Ediacara fauna, spiny and the Himalayan foreland basins (Krol, Spiti, Zanskar, acritarchs. The presence of the most ancient hydro- Kashmir, Kumaon) of northern and northwestern parts of carbons in the Warrawoona Group (>3.46 Ga) of Pil- India exhibit a possible southeastern extension of the bara basin, Australia, and in the Witwatersrand Super Proterozoic rift system (Peters et al., 1995; Padhy, 1997). Group (~2.85 Ga) of Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa, The presence of bitumen within the Neoproterozoic se- has been documented (Buick et al., 1998). The oldest quence in the central cratonic basins
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