Biosignature Preservation in Sulfate-Dominated Hypersaline Environments

Faculty Advisor/PI: Alexandra Pontefract (Georgetown/APL); Prof. Christopher E. Carr (Co-I)

Start Date: January 2021

Current Status: Active

Team: Alexandra Pontefract (PI), Magdalena Osburn (Co-I), Christopher E. Carr (Co-I), Mitchell Barklage (Collaborator), Jacob Buffo (Collaborator), Shuhei Ono (Collaborator), Virginia Walker (Collaborator), Jack Szostak (Collaborator)

This research focuses on developing a comprehensive understanding of a hypersaline, Mars analog environment, addressing the central question: “What types of biosignatures form and are preserved over time?” We are addressing this question specifically in a magnesium sulfate dominated system as sulfate salts have been widely documented on Mars, but are not the dominant type here on Earth. The field site is located in and around Clinton, British Columbia, Canada. Currently our team is working on the Basque Lakes, Last Chance Lake and Salt Lake.

For more information see Astrobioalex.com’s site.

Funding: Supported by NASA Exobiology awards 80NSSC18K1088 and 80NSSC20K0849 (Pontefract).

Publications:

Nichols F, Pontefract A, Masterson AL, Thompson ML, Carr CE, Tuccillo MT, & Osburn MR. (2024). Leveraging machine learning approaches to predict organic carbon abundance in Mars-analog hypersaline lake sediments. Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation, 1, e2024JH000138. 10.1029/2024JH000138 Preprint: ESS Open Archive 10.22541/essoar.170612488.88905565/v1.

Pontefract A, Zhu TF, Walker VK, Rowedder H, Lui C, Zuber MT, Ruvkun G, Carr CE. Microbial Diversity in a Hypersaline Sulfate Lake: An Analog of Ancient Mars. Frontiers in Microbiology, 26 Sept 2017 doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01819 PMID 29018418 OpenAccess

Talks/Posters:

Pontefract A, Nichols F, Osburn MR, Carr CE, Barklage M, Klempay B, and Bowman JS. From Brine to Biosignature: Tracking Microbial Communities in MgSO4 Hypersaline Mars Analog Environments. American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting, December 9-13, 2024, Washington, DC (abstract B51L-1661).

Pontefract AJ, Nichols F, Osborne MR, Carr CE. Habitability and Biosignature Preservation in a Sulfate Brine: Lessons from the “Spotted” Lakes. GSA Connects 2021, 10-13 October, Portland, Oregon, 2021; https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2021AM/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/367759

Pontefract AJ, Carr CE, Osburn, MR. The Role of Ionic Composition and Concentration on Biosignature Preservation: Lessons from the “Spotted” Lakes of British Colombia. Astrobiology Science Conference, June 24-28, 2019. Abstract + Talk.

Osburn MR, Dion-Kirschner H, Carr CE, Pontefract AJ. Organic Biosignatures of Mars Analog Sulfate-Dominated Hypersaline Lakes. Astrobiology Science Conference, June 24-28, 2019. Abstract + Talk.

A. Pontefract, J. Hachey, A. Mojarro, V. K. Walker, H. Rowedder, T. F. Zhu, C. Lui, M. T. Zuber, G. Ruvkun, C. E. Carr. Understanding Habitability and Biosignature Preservation in a Hypersaline Mars Analog Environment: Lessons from Spotted Lake. Lunar & Planetary Sci XLVIII, The Woodlands, Texzas, March 21-25, 2017. Abstract # 1124 https://goo.gl/YBBRg6

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