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2002 Annual Science Report

NASA Johnson Space Center Reporting  |  JUL 2001 – JUN 2002

Biogenic Mineral Weathering

Project Summary
  • Continued with our experimental project to compare biogenic weathering, sterile controls, and strictly abiogenic weathering
  • Developed new morphologic criteria that appear to be distinctive for biogenic weathering textures
  • Cataloged existing morphologic features of each type of weathering
  • Determined chemical changes on the micrometer and submicrometer level associated with each type of weathering
  • Cataloged weathering features in ancient Earth Archean samples and in Martian meteorites ALH84001, Nakhla, and others
4 Institutions
3 Teams
0 Publications
0 Field Sites
Field Sites

Project Progress

  • Continued with our experimental project to compare biogenic weathering, sterile controls, and strictly abiogenic weathering
  • Developed new morphologic criteria that appear to be distinctive for biogenic weathering textures
  • Cataloged existing morphologic features of each type of weathering
  • Determined chemical changes on the micrometer and submicrometer level associated with each type of weathering
  • Cataloged weathering features in ancient Earth Archean samples and in Martian meteorites ALH84001, Nakhla, and others
  • PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
  • PROJECT MEMBERS:
    Susan Wentworth
    Project Investigator

    Teresa Longazo
    Co-Investigator

    Simon Clemett
    Collaborator

    Penny Morris-Smith
    Collaborator

    Gordon Southam
    Collaborator

    Kathie Thomas-Keprta
    Collaborator

  • RELATED OBJECTIVES:
    Objective 6.0
    Define how ecophysiological processes structure microbial communities, influence their adaptation and evolution, and affect their detection on other planets.

    Objective 8.0
    Search for evidence of ancient climates, extinct life and potential habitats for extant life on Mars.