Session
2023 poster session
Location
Weber State University
Start Date
5-8-2023 10:00 AM
Description
Evaporation of water from brines on the surface of the Earth results in a bed of minerals referred to as an evaporite, such as Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) adjoining Great Salt Lake (GSL), in which both halite (NaCl) and gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) crystals precipitate. Modern GSL and the surrounding BSF resulted from the evaporation of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. In this Bonneville basin and in similar salt deposits, microbial life has been discovered, entombed in minerals. Evaporites have also been well mapped on Mars by recent space missions, which have provided evidence of mineral composites consistent with ancient salt lake systems akin to those on Earth, including GSL.
Preservation of Biosignatures in Gypsum as a Model for Mars Sample Return
Weber State University
Evaporation of water from brines on the surface of the Earth results in a bed of minerals referred to as an evaporite, such as Bonneville Salt Flats (BSF) adjoining Great Salt Lake (GSL), in which both halite (NaCl) and gypsum (CaSO4•2H2O) crystals precipitate. Modern GSL and the surrounding BSF resulted from the evaporation of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville. In this Bonneville basin and in similar salt deposits, microbial life has been discovered, entombed in minerals. Evaporites have also been well mapped on Mars by recent space missions, which have provided evidence of mineral composites consistent with ancient salt lake systems akin to those on Earth, including GSL.