NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Dry Acid Deposition and Accumulation on the Surface of Mars and in the Atacama Desert, ChileIt has been discovered recently that soils from certain regions of the Chilean Atacama Desert have some characteristics that are similar to the surface materials tested by the Viking Landers. Navarro-Gonzalez et al. demonstrated that the quantity and diversity of heterotrophic bacteria increase as a function of local water availability in the Atacama, and that for some soil samples collected in the driest regions, no culturable bacteria could be isolated. Additionally, Navarro-Gonzalez et al. reported that pyrolysis-GCMS analysis of soils collected from these regions revealed extremely low levels of organic matter. Although the mechanism resulting in the low level of organics in these regions was not established by Navarro-Gonzalez, the condition of organic-depleted, near-sterile soil offers an interesting Earth analog of the martian surface material, as the Viking Gas Exchange (GEx) experiment and Labeled Release (LR) experiment were unable to demonstrate the presence of culturable bacteria, and the Viking pyrolysis- GCMS was unable to detect organic compounds.
Document ID
20050173968
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Quinn, R. C.
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Inst. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Zent, A. P.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Ehrenfruend, P.
(Leiden Univ. Netherlands)
Taylor, C. L.
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Inst. Moffett Field, CA, United States)
McKay, C. P.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Garry, J. R. C.
(Leiden Univ. Netherlands)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2005
Publication Information
Publication: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, Part 16
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
No Preview Available