Characterization of organics, microorganisms, desert soils, and mars-like soils by thermal volatilization coupled to mass spectrometry and their implications for the search for organics on mars by phoenix and future space missions

Astrobiology

Volumn 9, Issue 8, 2009, Pages 703-715

  Navarro González, Rafael ^a   Iñiguez, Enrique ^a   De La Rosa, José ^a   McKay, Christopher P ^b  

^a UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL AUTÓNOMA DE MÉXICO   (Mexico)

^b NASA AMES RESEARCH CENTER   (United States)

Author keywords

Astrobiology; Mars; Mass spectrometry; Organic matter; Planetary instrumentation

Indexed keywords

ORGANIC COMPOUND;

ARTICLE; ASTRONOMY; BIOLOGY; INSTRUMENTATION; MASS SPECTROMETRY; METHODOLOGY; OXIDATION REDUCTION REACTION; SOIL; SPACE FLIGHT; TEMPERATURE; VOLATILIZATION;

EXOBIOLOGY; MARS; MASS SPECTROMETRY; ORGANIC CHEMICALS; OXIDATION-REDUCTION; SOIL; SPACE FLIGHT; TEMPERATURE; VOLATILIZATION;

EID: 70350334943     PISSN: 15311074     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2008.0284     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Allen, C.C., Jager, K.M., Morris, R.V., Lindstrom, D.J., Lindstrom, M.M., and Lockwood J.P. (1998) Martian soil stimulant available for scientific, educational study. Eos 79:405.
2. Bada, J.L., Sephton, M.A., Ehrenfreund, P., Mathies, R.A., Skelley, A.M., Grunthaner, F.J., Zent, A.P., Quinn, R.C., Josset, J.-L., Robert, F., Botta, O., and Glavin, D.P. (2005) Life on Mars. New strategies to detect life on Mars. Astronomy Geophysics 46:6.26-6.27.
3. Baldock, J.A. and Nelson, P.N. (2000) Soil organic chemistry. In Handbook of Soil Science, edited by M.E. Summer, CRC Taylor Francis, Boca Raton, FL, pp B25-B84.
4. Benner, S.A., Devine, K.G., Matveeva, L.D., and Powell, D.H. (2000) The missing organic molecules on Mars. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 97:2425-2430.
5. Biemann, K. (2007) On the ability of the Viking gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to detect organic matter. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 104:10310-10313.
6. Biemann, K. and Lavoide, J.M., Jr. (1979) Some final conclusions and supporting experiments related to the search for organic compounds on the surface of Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 84:8385-8390.
7. Biemann, K., Oro, J. Toulmin, P., II, Orgel, L.E., Nier, A.O., Anderson, D.M., Flory, D., Diaz, A.V., Rushneck, D.R., and Simmonds, P.G. (1977).The search for organic substances and inorganic volatile compounds in the surface of Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 30:4641-4658.
8. Blazso, M. and Jakab, E. (1999) Effect of metals, metal oxides, and carboxylates on the thermal decomposition processes of poly (vinyl chloride). J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 49:125-143.
9. Bond, B.D. and Jacobs, P.W.M. (1966) The thermal decomposition of sodium nitrate. J. Chem. Soc. A 1966:1265-1268.
10. Bonitz, R.G., Shiraishi, L., Robinson, M., Arvidson, R.E., Chu, P.C., Wilson, J.J., Davis, K.R., Paulsen, G., Kusack, A.G., Archer, D., and Smith, P. (2008) NASA Mars 2007 Phoenix lander Robotic Arm and Icy Soil Acquisition Device. J. Geophys. Res. 112, doi:10.1029=2007JE003030.
11. Boynton, W.V., Bailey, S.H., Hamara, D.K., Williams, M.S., Bode, R.C., Fitzgibbon, M.R., Ko, W.J., Ward, M.G., Sridhar, K.R., Blanchard, J.A., Lorenz, R.D., May, R.D., Paige, D.A., Pathare, A.V., Kring, D.A., Leshin, L.A., Ming, D.W., Zent, A.P., Golden, D.C., Kerry, K.E., Lauer, H.V., and Quinn, R.C. (2001) Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer: Part of the Mars Volatile and Climate Surveyor integrated payload. J. Geophys. Res. 106:17683-17698.
12. Boynton, W.V., Ming, D.W., Sutter, B., Arvidson, R.E., Hoffman, J., Niles, P.B., Smith, P., and the Phoenix Science Team (2009a) Evidence for calciumcarbonate at the Mars Phoenix landing site [abstract 2434]. In Proceedings of the 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.
13. Boynton, W.V., Ming, D.W., Kounaves, S.P., Young, S.M.M., Arvidson, R.E., Hecht, M.H., Hoffman, J., Niles, P.B., Hamara, D.K., Quinn, R.C., Smith, P.H., Sutter, B., Catling, D.C., and Morris, R.V. (2009b) Evidence for calcium carbonate at the Mars Phoenix landing site. Science 325:61-64.
14. Brinton, K.I., Engrand, C., Glavin, D.P., Bada, J.L., and Maurette, M. (1998) A search for extraterrestrial amino acids in carbonaceous Antarctic micrometeorites. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 28:413-424.
15. Buch, A., Glavin, D.P., Sternberg, R., Szopa, C., Rodier, C., Navarro-González, R., Raulin, F., Cabane, M., and Mahaffy, P.R. (2006) A new extraction technique for in situ analyses of amino and carboxylic acids on Mars by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Planet. Space Sci. 54:1592-1599. (Pubitemid 44781229)
16. Buch, A., Sternberg, R., Szopa, C., Freissinet, C., Garnier, C., Bekri, E.J., Rodier, C., Navarro-González, R., Raulin, F., Cabane, M., Stambouli, M., Glavin, D.P., and Mahaffy P.R. (2009) Development of a gas chromatography compatible Sample Processing System (SPS) for the in situ analysis of refractory organic matter in martian soil: preliminary results. Adv. Space Res. 43:143-151.
17. Cabane, M., Coll, P., Szopa, C., Israël, G., Raulin, F., Sternberg, R., Mahaffy, P., Person, A., Rodier, C., Navarro-González, R., Niemann, H., Harpold, D., and Brinckerhoff, W. (2004) Did life exist on Mars? Search for organic and inorganic signatures, one of the goals for ''SAM'' (Sample Analysis at Mars). Adv. Space Res. 33:2240-2245.
18. Cameron, R.E. (1971) Antarctic soil microbiology and ecological investigations. In Research in the Antarctic, edited by L.O. Quam and H.D. Porter, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington DC, pp 137-189.
19. Cowan, D.A. and Tow, L.A. (2004) Endangered Antarctic environments. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 58:649-690.
20. Cunsheng, H., Shepson, P.B., Drummond, J.W., and Muthuramu, K. (1994) Gas chromatographic detector for selective and sensitive detection of atmospheric organic nitrates. Anal. Chem. 66:3737-3743.
21. Dean, J.R. and Xiong, G. (2000) Extraction of organic pollutants from environmental matrices: selection of extraction techniques. Trends Analyt. Chem. 19:553-564.
22. Evans-Nguyen, T., Becker, L., Doroshenko, V., and Cotter, R.J. (2008) Development of a low power, high mass range mass spectrometer for Mars surface analysis. Int. J. Mass Spectrom. 278:170-177.
23. Ewing, S.A., Southard, R.J., Macalady, J.L., Hartshorn, A.S., and Johnson, M.J. (2007) Soil microbial fingerprints, carbon, and nitrogen in a Mojave Desert creosote-bush ecosystem. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 71:469-475.
24. Faure, P., Schlepp, L., Mansuy-Huault, L., Elie, M., Emilie Jardé, E., and Manuel Pelletier, M. (2006) Aromatization of organic matter induced by the presence of clays during flash pyrolysisgas chromatography-mass spectrometry (PyGC-MS). A major analytical artifact. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 75:1-10.
25. Fernández-Remolar, D.C., Rodríguez, N., Gómez, F., and Amils, R. (2003) Geological record of an acidic environment driven by iron hydrochemistry: the Tinto River system. J. Geophys. Res. 108, doi:10.1029=2002JE001918.
26. Flynn, G.J. (1995) The delivery of organic matter from asteroids and comets to the early surface of Mars. Earth Moon Planets 71:469-474.
27. Giraud, A. (1970) Application of pyrolysis and gas chromatography to geochemical characterization of kerogen in sedimentary rocks. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 54:439-451.
28. Hoffman, J.H., Chaney, R.C., and Hammack, H. (2008) Phoenix Mars mission-the Thermal Evolved Gas Analyzer. J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 19:1377-1383.
29. Horowitz, N.H., Bauman, A.J., Cameron, R.E., Geiger, P.J., Hubbard, J.S., Shulman, G.P., Simmonds, P.G., and Westberg, K. (1969) Sterile soil from Antarctica: organic analysis. Science 164:1054-1056.
30. Horowitz, N., Hobby, G., and Hubbard, J. (1977) Viking on Mars: the carbon assimilation experiments. J. Geophys. Res. 82:4659-4662.
31. Kanavarioti, A. and Mancinelli, R.L. (1990) Could organic matter have been preserved on Mars for 3.5 billion years? Icarus 84:196-202.
32. Klein, H.P., Horowitz, N.H., Levin, G.V., Oyama, V.I., Lederberg, J., Rich, A., Hubbard, J.S., Hobby, G.L., Straat, P.A., Berdahl, B.J., Carle, G.C., Brown, F.S., and Johnson, R.D. (1976) The Viking biological investigation: preliminary results. Science 194:99-105.
33. Klingelhöfer, G., Morris, R.V., Bernhardt, B., Schröder, C., Rodionov, D.S., de Souza, P.A., Jr., Yen, A., Gellert, R., Evlanov, E.N., Zubkov, B., Foh, J., Bonnes, U., Kankeleit, E., Gü tlich, P., Ming, D.W., Renz, F., Wdowiak, T., Squyres, S.W., and Arvidson R.E. (2004) Jarosite and hematite atMeridiani Planum from Opportunity's Mö ssbauer spectrometer. Science 306:1740-1745.
34. Krasnopolsky, V.A. (2006) A sensitive search for nitric oxide in the lower atmospheres of Venus and Mars: detection on Venus and upper limit for Mars. Icarus 182:80-91.
35. Krupenio, N.N. (1978) An estimate of the density of martian soil from radiophysical measurements in the 3 cm region. Cosmic Research 16:357-365.
36. Levin, G. and Straat, P. (1977) Recent results from the Viking Labeled Release experiment on Mars. J. Geophys. Res. 82:4663-4667.
37. Levin, G.V. and Straat, P.A. (1981) Antarctic Soil No.726 and implications for the Viking Labeled Release experiment. J. Theor. Biol. 91:41-45.
38. Lopez-Archilla, A.I., Marin, I., and Amils, R. (2001) Microbial community composition and ecology of an acidic aquatic environment: the Tinto River, Spain. Microb. Ecol. 41:20-35.
39. Mahaffy, P. (2008) Exploration of the habitability of Mars: development of analytical protocols for measurement of organic carbon on the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory. Space Sci. Rev. 135:255-268.
40. Mahaffy, P.R. and SAM Science Team (2005) Organics and isotopes analysis on the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society 37:652.
41. Malin, M.C., Edgett, K.S., Posiolova, L.V., McColley, S.M., and Dobrea, E.Z.N. (2006) Present-day impact cratering rate and contemporary gully activity on Mars. Science 314:1573-1577.
42. McKay, C.P. (2004) What is life-and how do we search for it in other worlds? PLoS Biol. 2:1260-1263.
43. McKay, C.P., Grunthaner, F.J., Lane, A.L., Herring, M., Bartman, R.K., Ksendzov, A., Manning, C.M., Lamb, J.L., Williams, R.M., Ricco, A.J., Butler, M.A., Murray, B.C., Quinn, R.C., Zent, A.P., Klein, H.P., and Levin, G.V. (1998) The Mars Oxidant experiment (MOx) for Mars '96. Planet. Space Sci. 46:769-777.
44. Mendez, C., Garza, E., Gulati, P., Morris, P.A., and Allen, C.C. (2005) Isolation and identification of microorganisms in JSC Mars-1 simulant soil [abstract 2360]. In Proceedings of the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.
45. Ming, D.W., Morris, R.V., Woida, R., Sutter, B., Lauer, H.V., Shinohara, C., Golden, D.C., Boynton, W.V., Arvidson, R.E., Stewart, R.L., Tamppari, L.K., Gross, M., and Smith, P. (2008) Mars 2007 Phoenix Scout mission Organic Free Blank: method to distinguish Mars organics from terrestrial organics. J. Geophys. Res. 113, doi:10.1029=2007JE003061.
46. Molina, M.J., Zhang, R., Broekhuizen, K., Lei, W., Navarro- González, R., and Molina, L.T. (1999) Experimental study of intermediates from OH-initiated reactions of toluene. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 121:10225-10226.
47. Morrison, D. (2001) Astrobiology: The NASA Astrobiology Program. Astrobiology 1:3-13.
48. Navarro-González, R., Molina, M.J., and Molina, L.T. (1998) Nitrogen fixation by volcanic lightning in the early Earth. Geophys. Res. Lett. 25:3123-3126.
49. Navarro-González, R., Rainey, F.A., Molina, P., Bagaley, D.R., Hollen, B.J., de la Rosa, J., Small, A.M., Quinn, R.C., Grunthaner, F.J., Cáceres, L., Gomez-Silva, B., and McKay, C.P. (2003) Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert, Chile, and the dry limit of microbial life. Science 302:1018-1021.
50. Navarro-González, R, Navarro, K.F., de la Rosa, J., Iñ iguez, E., Molina, P., Miranda, L.D., Morales, P., Cienfuegos, E., Coll, P., Raulin, F., Amils, R., and McKay, C.P. (2006) The limitations on organic detection in Mars-like soils by thermal volatilization- gas chromatography-MS and their implications for the Viking results. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103:16089-16094.
51. Oyama, V.I. and Berdahl, B.J. (1977) The Viking gas exchange experiment results from Chryse and Utopia surface samples. J. Geophys. Res. 82:4669-4676.
52. Pizzarello, S., Huang, Y., Becker, L., Poreda, R.J., Nieman, R.A., Cooper, G., and Williams, M. (2001) The organic content of the Tagish Lake meteorite. Science 293:2236-2239.
53. Prather, R.J., Miyamoto, S., and Bohn, H.L. (1973) Nitric oxide sorption by calcareous soils: I. Capacity, rate, and sorption products in air dry soils. Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J. 37:877-879.
54. Schulten, H.R. and Leinweber, P. (1993) Pyrolysis-field ionization mass spectrometry of agricultural soils and humic substances: effect of cropping systems and influence of the mineral matrix. Plant Soil 151:77-90.
55. Snyder, C. (1977) The Missions of the Viking orbiters. J. Geophys. Res. 82:3971-3983.
56. Stalport, F., Coll, P., Cabane, M., Person, A., Navarro-González, R., Raulin, F., Vaulay, M.J., Ausset, P., McKay, C.P., Szopa, C., and Zarnecki, J. (2005) Search for past life on Mars: physical and chemical characterization of minerals of biotic and abiotic origin: part 1-calcite. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, doi:10.1029=2005GL023403.
57. Treiman, A.H. (2008) Ancient groundwater flow in the Valles Marineris on Mars inferred from fault trace ridges. Nat. Geosci. 1:181-183.
58. Wright, I.P., Sims, M.R., and Pillinger, C.T. (2003) Scientific objectives of the Beagle 2 lander. Acta Astronaut. 52:219-225.
59. Wu, C. (2007) Space exploration: secrets of the martian soil. Nature 448:742-744.
60. Yang, Y., Bowadt, S., Hawthorne, S.B., and Miller, D.J. (1995) Subcritical water extraction of polychlorinated biphenyls from soil and sediment. Anal. Chem. 67:4571-4576.
61. Zent, A.P. and McKay, C.P. (1994) The chemical reactivity of the martian soil and implications for future missions. Icarus 108:146-157.