Martian glass may reveal ancient life

By using data from Mars, geologists have discovered evidence for the presence of glass which may be key to finding past life.

Research at Brown University used satellite data from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) and detected deposits of glass on the Red planet – formed by violent impacts – which may preserve evidence of ancient life.

PhD student Kevin Cannon at Brown University said: “Glasses are potentially important for preserving biosignatures. Knowing that, we wanted to go look for them on Mars and that's what we did here. Before this paper no one had been able to definitively detect them on the surface.”

In the study, published in the journal Geology, the team mixed powders with a similar composition to Martian rocks and fired them in an oven to form glass. Then they measured the spectral signal from that glass and used an algorithm designed to pick up similar signals and analysed data from CRISM.

“Glasses tend to be spectrally bland or weakly expressive, so signatures from the glass tend to be overwhelmed by the chunks of rock mixed in with it. Kevin found a way to tease that signal out,” said Professor Jack Mustard at Brown University.

The data showed large glass deposits in several ancient well-preserved craters across the Red Planet. The scientists believe that these deposits open a potential new method to search for ancient Martian life.

“We think these could be interesting targets for future exploration,” said Professor Mustard.

Next, the team is planning to study soil and rock samples, collected by the Mars 2020 rover, from one of the craters found to contain glass called Hargraves.

Paper: http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2015/06/04/G36953.1

Here’s Phil’s comment on their earlier research: 

http://www.labnews.co.uk/comment/editorial-comments/asteroid-impact-a-greater-threat-that-we-thought-06-05-2014/

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