Testing the Survival of Microfossils During Entry into the Earth's Atmosphere: The Stone 6 Experiment

F. Foucher; F. Westall; F. Brandstaetter; R. Demets; John Parnell; C. Cockell; H. Edwards; G. Kurat; A. Brack

doi:10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb01099.x

Testing the Survival of Microfossils During Entry into the Earth's Atmosphere: The Stone 6 Experiment

F. Foucher
, F. Westall
, F. Brandstaetter
, R. Demets
, John Parnell
, C. Cockell
, H. Edwards
, G. Kurat
, A. Brack

Geology and Geophysics

ESA ESTEC
The Open University, UK
University of Bradford
CNRS
Natural History Museum Vienna

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

Studies related to the origin of life on Earth arehampered by the fact that suitable rocks dating from the first billion years arelacking due to metamorphism and plate tectonics. Thus the oldest traces oflife occur in rocks formed ~3.5 billion years ago [1, 2], a billion years afterthe formation of the Earth. As a consequence, the investigations now focus onMars where the ancient terrains have not been destroyed by plate tectonicactivity.One means of studying hypothetical Martian traces of life would be toanalyze sedimentary meteorites. However, only 49 meteorites of presumedMartian origin have been so far been found and all have a basalticcomposition. The aim of this study was to determine if sedimentary rocks andtheir embedded microfossils could survive the shock of entry into the Earth’satmosphere

Original language	English
Article number	5055
Pages (from-to)	A207
Number of pages	1
Journal	Meteoritics & Planetary Sciences
Volume	44
Issue number	Suppl. S7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb01099.x
Publication status	Published - Jul 2009
Event	72nd Annual Meteoritical Society Meeting (2009) - Nancy, France Duration: 13 Jul 2009 → 18 Jul 2009

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Cite this

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title = "Testing the Survival of Microfossils During Entry into the Earth's Atmosphere: The Stone 6 Experiment",

abstract = "Studies related to the origin of life on Earth arehampered by the fact that suitable rocks dating from the first billion years arelacking due to metamorphism and plate tectonics. Thus the oldest traces oflife occur in rocks formed \textasciitilde{}3.5 billion years ago [1, 2], a billion years afterthe formation of the Earth. As a consequence, the investigations now focus onMars where the ancient terrains have not been destroyed by plate tectonicactivity.One means of studying hypothetical Martian traces of life would be toanalyze sedimentary meteorites. However, only 49 meteorites of presumedMartian origin have been so far been found and all have a basalticcomposition. The aim of this study was to determine if sedimentary rocks andtheir embedded microfossils could survive the shock of entry into the Earth{\textquoteright}satmosphere",

author = "F. Foucher and F. Westall and F. Brandstaetter and R. Demets and John Parnell and C. Cockell and H. Edwards and G. Kurat and A. Brack",

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doi = "10.1111/j.1945-5100.2009.tb01099.x",

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pages = "A207",

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AU - Foucher, F.

AU - Westall, F.

AU - Brandstaetter, F.

AU - Demets, R.

AU - Parnell, John

AU - Cockell, C.

AU - Edwards, H.

AU - Kurat, G.

AU - Brack, A.

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AB - Studies related to the origin of life on Earth arehampered by the fact that suitable rocks dating from the first billion years arelacking due to metamorphism and plate tectonics. Thus the oldest traces oflife occur in rocks formed ~3.5 billion years ago [1, 2], a billion years afterthe formation of the Earth. As a consequence, the investigations now focus onMars where the ancient terrains have not been destroyed by plate tectonicactivity.One means of studying hypothetical Martian traces of life would be toanalyze sedimentary meteorites. However, only 49 meteorites of presumedMartian origin have been so far been found and all have a basalticcomposition. The aim of this study was to determine if sedimentary rocks andtheir embedded microfossils could survive the shock of entry into the Earth’satmosphere

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ER -

Testing the Survival of Microfossils During Entry into the Earth's Atmosphere: The Stone 6 Experiment

Abstract

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