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Mars in the Late Noachian: Evolution of a Habitable Surface Environment

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Mars in the Late Noachian: Evolution of a Habitable Surface Environment Mars in the Late Noachian: evolution of a habitable surface environment by Sarah Stewart Johnson M.Sc. Biology, University of Oxford, UK, 2005 B.A. Philosophy, Politics and Economics, University of Oxford, UK, 2003 B.A. Mathematics and Environmental Studies, Washington University in St. Louis, USA, 2001 Submitted to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2008 © Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008. All rights reserved. Author: ...............................................................................………………………... Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences April 30, 2008 Accepted by: ..........................................................................……………………… Maria T. Zuber E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics Thesis Advisor Accepted by: ..........................................................................……………………… Thomas A. Herring Professor of Geophysics Graduate Officer, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences SARAH STEWART JOHNSON PH.D. THESIS [THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK] 2 SARAH STEWART JOHNSON PH.D. THESIS Mars in the Late Noachian: evolution of a habitable surface environment by Sarah Stewart Johnson Submitted to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences on April 30, 2008, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Planetary Sciences Abstract This dissertation addresses whether simple life forms might have existed on Mars during the late Noachian epoch, and whether those life forms, or their traces, can be detected today. It begins by analyzing the ancient Martian climate in light of new evidence that sulfur chemistry played a prominent role in the planet's early evolution. It finds that sulfur-induced greenhouse warming could have periodically heated the planet enough to support liquid water, thereby creating warm, wet, clement conditions. Moreover, it finds that those warming pulses, while short-lived over geologic time, may have persisted for hundreds of years. If sulfur helped create environmental conditions capable of hosting life, however, it also created conditions that were adverse to sustaining it. In particular, dissipation of sulfur volatiles cooled the climate, and sulfur rainout contributed to the acidity of Martian surface waters. The dissertation therefore proceeds to analyze the potential for persistence and detection of life in terrestrial environments with Mars-like characteristics. It first investigates the potential for detecting ancient life by searching for lipid biomarkers in sulfur-rich acid salt lakes, concluding that a variety of biomarkers may be more resistant to decay than previously believed. It then analyzes soil samples from permafrost, discovering the oldest independently authenticated viable organisms ever found, and positing low-level metabolic activity and DNA repair as a survival mechanism in ancient cells. Finally, the dissertation uses deep sequencing to examine prokaryotic diversity in a terrestrial Mars-like river characterized by low pH and high concentrations of iron and sulfur, with results considered in light of the implications for life detection approaches incorporating new, in situ “PCR in a chip” technology. The dissertation concludes by proposing future work, including the ultimate goal of developing a life detection instrument for Mars. Thesis Advisor: Maria T. Zuber, Ph.D. Title: E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics 3 SARAH STEWART JOHNSON PH.D. THESIS Acknowledgments And suddenly we are back at Walden Pond, or on the tiny planet of the Little Prince, as poor as church mice and as rich as lords. I count every star in Sagittarius as mine. -C. Raymo I am deeply indebted to the following people: Emma Brunskill, a comrade without whom I cannot imagine MIT, Lisha Bai, and John Lavinsky, I stand in the sweep of their orbits; Jim Brennan, for nourishing a young mind; Jim Garvin, for his inspiriting love of planets; and especially Ray Arvidson, for first illuminating Mars; Michael Mischna, Alex Pavlov, Roger Summons, Eske Willerslev, Martin Bay Hebsgaard, Tom Gilbert, Ricardo Amils, and Chris Carr, for lending their acumen to the work that appears in this dissertation; and Roberta Allard, Maya Bhatia, Ying Wu, Deirdre Mask, Sarah Garson, Sinead English, Ingrid Barnsley, Anne Dodge, Chelsea Elander Bodnar, Lippy Goyal, Nanna Jumah, Trine Christensen, Jason Wasfy, Sherry Deckman, Ben Hurlbut, Bernard Mwangi, Scott Lee, Rex Malmstrom, Maurice Bulter, Roberta Bennett-Calorio, Vicki McKenna, Jacqui Taylor, Carol Sprague, Erwan Mazarico, James Dennedy-Frank, Chin-Wu Chen, Einat Lev, Ian Garrick-Bethell, Kyle Bradley, Will Ouimet, Mike Krawczynski, Jay Barr, Noah McLean, Anna Monders, Taylor Schildgen, Doug Jerolmack, Jeff Andrews-Hanna, Pete Girgius, and Lindy Elkins-Tanton, for causerie, and such meaningful support as friends and colleagues. In addition, I would like to thank the sagacious core of young scientists on MER with whom I worked, including Wes Watters, Dave Fike, and Bethany Ehlmann, as well as those who made fieldwork in Antarctica and Western Australia possible, among them, Donal Manahan, John Grotzinger, and Angus Turner. Finally, my humblest gratitude to Antje Duvekot, Aggrey Omondi, Kate Harris, Leslie Kendrick, Sven Birkerts, and Alan Lightman, six of the most astonishing people I know, for sounding the depths of experience and stirring me to do the same. My greatest acknowledgments, however, go to my advisor, Maria Zuber, my unqualified ideal as a scientist and mentor, for whom I would need another thesis to express my boundless gratitude; Gary Ruvkun, Rick Binzel, Ben Weiss, and Tim Grove, who round out my discerning, generous committee; my illimitable grandmother, Jean Johnson; my treasured parents, John and Kate Johnson; and my sister Emily, who has my whole heart. -S.S.J. 4 SARAH STEWART JOHNSON PH.D. THESIS Table of Contents Chapter 1 – Introduction 1.1 Context and chapter outline .................................................................................. 11 1.1.1 A sulfur-rich environment on ancient Mars ............................................... 11 1.1.2 Finding ancient life ................................................................................... 16 1.1.3 Survival under duress................................................................................ 18 1.1.4 Finding existing life .................................................................................. 19 1.2 References............................................................................................................ 22 1.3 Figures..... ............................................................................................................ 24 Chapter 2 – Sulfur-induced greenhouse warming on early Mars 2.0 Abstract................................................................................................................ 27 2.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 28 2.2 Sulfur solubility in Martian mantle melts.............................................................. 32 2.2.1 Batch melting model................................................................................. 32 2.2.2. Calculating sulfur solubility ...................................................................... 34 2.3 Volcanic release of sulfur volatiles ....................................................................... 37 2.4 Atmospheric warming .......................................................................................... 40 2.4.1 General circulation model ......................................................................... 40 2.4.2 Radiation scheme...................................................................................... 41 2.4.3 Water cycle............................................................................................... 46 2.4.4 Dust and solar luminosity.......................................................................... 47 2.5 Results.................................................................................................................. 48 2.6 Discussion............................................................................................................ 53 2.7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 56 2.8 References............................................................................................................ 58 2.9 Tables................................................................................................................... 66 2.10 Figures..... ............................................................................................................ 70 Chapter 3 – Longevity of SO2 in the ancient Martian atmosphere: implications for transient greenhouse warming 3.0 Abstract................................................................................................................ 79 3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 80 3.2 Photochemical model ........................................................................................... 81 3.3 Present-day Mars.................................................................................................
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