Hopanoid Biomarker Preservation In Coniform (Phormidium) Stromatolites in Siliceous Thermal Springs, Yellowstone National Park

The microbial communities that characterize modem hydrothermal ecosystems serve as modern analogs to those thought to have dominated early environments on Earth and possibly Mars. The importance of such hydrothermal systems as targets in exploring for an early biosphere on Mars is well established. Such work provides an important basis for the analysis of Martian samples associated with such environments. The surviving molecular structure and isotopic signature of diagnostic lipid biomarkers found as chemical fossils can provide a link between modern bacterially dominated ecosystems and their ancient counterparts. We are interested in the processes involved in the deposition and/or degradation of organic material in moderately thermal, silicifying microbial mats, particularly as this relates to the potential for preservation of some biomarker components known to be more highly resistant to microbial degradation. Several excellent biomarker molecules are associated with the cyanobacteria that dominate these mats, particularly the 2-methylbacteriohopanepolyols (2-MeBHP). These compounds are ubiquitous on Earth and are not easily degraded in nature, a fact documented by their detection in ancient Earth rocks dating back as far as 2,700 Ma.