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Murphy AE, Jakubek RS, Steele A, Fries MD, Glamoclija M. Raman spectroscopy provides insight into carbonate rock fabric based on calcite and dolomite crystal orientation. JOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY : JRS 2021; 52:1155-1166. [PMID: 34163097 PMCID: PMC8216293 DOI: 10.1002/jrs.6097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Carbonate rocks record the oldest forms of life on Earth, and their geologic reconstruction requires multiple methods to determine physical and chemical processes before conclusions of ancient biosignatures are made. Since crystal orientation within rock fabric may be used to infer geologic settings, we present here a complementary Raman method to study the orientation of calcite (CaCO3) and dolomite [CaMg (CO3)2] minerals. The relative peak intensity ratio of the carbonate lattice Eg modes T and L reveals the crystallographic orientation of calcite and dolomite with respect to the incident light polarization. Our results for calcite show that when the incident laser light propagates down the crystallographic a/b axis: (1) the L mode is always greater in intensity than the T mode (I T < I L), and (2) the spectra are most intense at 45° and least intense at 90° polarization angles measured from around the c axis. Our results for dolomite show that (1) I T > I L when the incident light propagation is down the crystallographic c axis and (2) I T < I L when the incident light propagation is down the crystallographic a/b axis. This study reveals mineral orientation variation related to deposition and paragenesis within limestone and dolostone samples. The method presented yields information related to growth and deformation during diagenetic and metamorphic alteration and may be used in research seeking to identify the fabric parameters of any calcite or dolomite containing rock. The compositional and structural data obtained from Raman mapping is useful in structural geology, materials science, and biosignature research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley E. Murphy
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers
University, Newark, New Jersey, USA
| | - Ryan S. Jakubek
- Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES)
Division, Jacobs JETS Contract, NASA-JSC, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Andrew Steele
- Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington,
Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Marc D. Fries
- NASA Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Office, NASA
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
| | - Mihaela Glamoclija
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers
University, Newark, New Jersey, USA
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2
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Chan MA, Hinman NW, Potter-McIntyre SL, Schubert KE, Gillams RJ, Awramik SM, Boston PJ, Bower DM, Des Marais DJ, Farmer JD, Jia TZ, King PL, Hazen RM, Léveillé RJ, Papineau D, Rempfert KR, Sánchez-Román M, Spear JR, Southam G, Stern JC, Cleaves HJ. Deciphering Biosignatures in Planetary Contexts. ASTROBIOLOGY 2019; 19:1075-1102. [PMID: 31335163 PMCID: PMC6708275 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2018.1903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2018] [Accepted: 03/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
Microbial life permeates Earth's critical zone and has likely inhabited nearly all our planet's surface and near subsurface since before the beginning of the sedimentary rock record. Given the vast time that Earth has been teeming with life, do astrobiologists truly understand what geological features untouched by biological processes would look like? In the search for extraterrestrial life in the Universe, it is critical to determine what constitutes a biosignature across multiple scales, and how this compares with "abiosignatures" formed by nonliving processes. Developing standards for abiotic and biotic characteristics would provide quantitative metrics for comparison across different data types and observational time frames. The evidence for life detection falls into three categories of biosignatures: (1) substances, such as elemental abundances, isotopes, molecules, allotropes, enantiomers, minerals, and their associated properties; (2) objects that are physical features such as mats, fossils including trace-fossils and microbialites (stromatolites), and concretions; and (3) patterns, such as physical three-dimensional or conceptual n-dimensional relationships of physical or chemical phenomena, including patterns of intermolecular abundances of organic homologues, and patterns of stable isotopic abundances between and within compounds. Five key challenges that warrant future exploration by the astrobiology community include the following: (1) examining phenomena at the "right" spatial scales because biosignatures may elude us if not examined with the appropriate instrumentation or modeling approach at that specific scale; (2) identifying the precise context across multiple spatial and temporal scales to understand how tangible biosignatures may or may not be preserved; (3) increasing capability to mine big data sets to reveal relationships, for example, how Earth's mineral diversity may have evolved in conjunction with life; (4) leveraging cyberinfrastructure for data management of biosignature types, characteristics, and classifications; and (5) using three-dimensional to n-D representations of biotic and abiotic models overlain on multiple overlapping spatial and temporal relationships to provide new insights.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marjorie A. Chan
- Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
| | - Nancy W. Hinman
- Department of Geosciences, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana
| | | | - Keith E. Schubert
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Baylor University, Waco, Texas
| | - Richard J. Gillams
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Electronics and Computer Science, Institute for Life Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Stanley M. Awramik
- Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California
| | - Penelope J. Boston
- NASA Astrobiology Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
| | - Dina M. Bower
- Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland College Park (CRESST), College Park, Maryland
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
| | | | - Jack D. Farmer
- School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
| | - Tony Z. Jia
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Penelope L. King
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Robert M. Hazen
- Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Richard J. Léveillé
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- Geosciences Department, John Abbott College, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Canada
| | - Dominic Papineau
- London Centre for Nanotechnology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- BioGeology and Environmental Geology State Key Laboratory, School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, China
| | - Kaitlin R. Rempfert
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado
| | - Mónica Sánchez-Román
- Earth Sciences Department, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - John R. Spear
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado
| | - Gordon Southam
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | | | - Henderson James Cleaves
- Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan
- Program in Interdisciplinary Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
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3
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Demoulin CF, Lara YJ, Cornet L, François C, Baurain D, Wilmotte A, Javaux EJ. Cyanobacteria evolution: Insight from the fossil record. Free Radic Biol Med 2019; 140:206-223. [PMID: 31078731 PMCID: PMC6880289 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.05.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 03/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Cyanobacteria played an important role in the evolution of Early Earth and the biosphere. They are responsible for the oxygenation of the atmosphere and oceans since the Great Oxidation Event around 2.4 Ga, debatably earlier. They are also major primary producers in past and present oceans, and the ancestors of the chloroplast. Nevertheless, the identification of cyanobacteria in the early fossil record remains ambiguous because the morphological criteria commonly used are not always reliable for microfossil interpretation. Recently, new biosignatures specific to cyanobacteria were proposed. Here, we review the classic and new cyanobacterial biosignatures. We also assess the reliability of the previously described cyanobacteria fossil record and the challenges of molecular approaches on modern cyanobacteria. Finally, we suggest possible new calibration points for molecular clocks, and strategies to improve our understanding of the timing and pattern of the evolution of cyanobacteria and oxygenic photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catherine F Demoulin
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium.
| | - Yannick J Lara
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Luc Cornet
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium; Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Camille François
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Denis Baurain
- Eukaryotic Phylogenomics, InBioS-PhytoSYSTEMS, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Annick Wilmotte
- BCCM/ULC Cyanobacteria Collection, InBioS-CIP, Centre for Protein Engineering, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Emmanuelle J Javaux
- Early Life Traces & Evolution - Astrobiology, UR ASTROBIOLOGY, Geology Department, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
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4
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Shkolyar S, Eshelman EJ, Farmer JD, Hamilton D, Daly MG, Youngbull C. Detecting Kerogen as a Biosignature Using Colocated UV Time-Gated Raman and Fluorescence Spectroscopy. ASTROBIOLOGY 2018; 18:431-453. [PMID: 29624103 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2017.1716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The Mars 2020 mission will analyze samples in situ and identify any that could have preserved biosignatures in ancient habitable environments for later return to Earth. Highest priority targeted samples include aqueously formed sedimentary lithologies. On Earth, such lithologies can contain fossil biosignatures as aromatic carbon (kerogen). In this study, we analyzed nonextracted kerogen in a diverse suite of natural, complex samples using colocated UV excitation (266 nm) time-gated (UV-TG) Raman and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopies. We interrogated kerogen and its host matrix in samples to (1) explore the capabilities of UV-TG Raman and fluorescence spectroscopies for detecting kerogen in high-priority targets in the search for possible biosignatures on Mars; (2) assess the effectiveness of time gating and UV laser wavelength in reducing fluorescence in Raman spectra; and (3) identify sample-specific issues that could challenge rover-based identifications of kerogen using UV-TG Raman spectroscopy. We found that ungated UV Raman spectroscopy is suited to identify diagnostic kerogen Raman bands without interfering fluorescence and that UV fluorescence spectroscopy is suited to identify kerogen. These results highlight the value of combining colocated Raman and fluorescence spectroscopies, similar to those obtainable by SHERLOC on Mars 2020, to strengthen the confidence of kerogen detection as a potential biosignature in complex natural samples. Key Words: Raman spectroscopy-Laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy-Mars Sample Return-Mars 2020 mission-Kerogen-Biosignatures. Astrobiology 18, 431-453.
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Affiliation(s)
- Svetlana Shkolyar
- 1 School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona
- 2 Current address: Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington , Washington, District of Columbia
| | - Evan J Eshelman
- 3 The Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS), York University , Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Jack D Farmer
- 1 School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University , Tempe, Arizona
| | - David Hamilton
- 3 The Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS), York University , Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Michael G Daly
- 3 The Centre for Research in Earth and Space Science (CRESS), York University , Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Cody Youngbull
- 4 Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana , Polson, Montana
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