Impact Crater Lakes and the Astrobiological Exploration of Mars

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Impact Crater Lakes and the Astrobiological Exploration of Mars NASA Astrobiology Institute Mars Focus Group Videocon (01/08/01) Nathalie A. Cabrol NASA Ames Research Center Space Science Division, MS 245-3 Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 Email: ncabrol@mail.arc.nasa.gov Phone: (650)604-0312/Fax: (650)604-6779

Criteria for Astrobiology Sites Evidence of water Presence of mechanisms to concentrate life Presence of thermal energy source Evidence of rapid burial (water or sediment, lava, ice…) Excavation or exposure in outcrops

Science Priorities and Martian Environments Geologic History Climate History Chemical Evolution Fossil Life Extant Life Channels, Valleys, Paleolakes Channels, Valleys, Polar deposits, Paleolakes Deep Hydrothermal Systems, Paleolakes Thermal Springs, Lakebeds Frozen in ice, Current Hydrothermal sites, Caves, Evaporites, Endoliths, etc... Table adapted from Farmer and DesMarais, in Landing Site Catalog

Why Lakes in Impact Craters? Well-delimited topography Protected Environments (“Local” Climate); Unlike most other lakes, they were at some point in their history associated with a heat source. Combining Water and Energy Source

Melt Material, Central Peak and Ice-cover 1cm/yr A. Declining heat from impact melt sheet; B. Ablation rate of an ice-cover (cm/yr)in a 65-km Ø crater with a 200-m thick melt sheet. 3cm/yr 10cm/yr C. Energy Sources for an impact crater lake. Convective currents related to water temperature variations are associated with rotary currents related to channel flow. (Grin and Cabrol 1997) Charts after Newsom et al., 1996

A Lake is Defined by: Hydrological Processes; Chemical Processes; Physical Processes; Hydrological Processes; Chemical Processes; Biological Processes Observed and/or can be modeled; Reconstructed from data; Poorly known ??? classification based on fluvio-lacustrine systems for Mars.

Closed Lake System: Concentration with Lifetime (ancient) Closed and deep crater basin without an outflow. Terraces in the channel suggest either there was several episodes of flow (sevral lakes) or one major episodes with fluctuating levels After Cabrol and Grin, 1999 Icarus.

Closed Lake/Pond System: Recent?

Open Lake System: River-Dominated (a) River dominated clastic sediment. The lake water chemistry is river-dominated. Search for parent-rock; (a1) Episodes of flow recorded in varves; layers. Importance of near-inlet shoreline to search for life. Example of open crater lake system in the Memnonia NW region of Mars. Open crater systems may have experienced a “closed” phase before channels cut through the rim and outflow from the basin. This episode might be found in deep sedimentary record. After Cabrol and Grin, 1999 Icarus.

Lake Chain System: Fractioning of Evaporites Chain of impact craters connected by a channel, with 3 open components. Fractioning of evaporites, and clasts, from C1 to C3. The degree of concentration is predicted to be higher for crater lake chain supported by long-lived runoffs than for short outburst of outflows. The degree of salinity and evaporite fractioning will vary depending if the system ends by a closed or an open basin.

Lacustrine Deltas in Impact Craters Deltas provide vertical facies succession, with indication of climate and atmosphere (composition, thickness, and grain-size of sediment; hydrological regime; geologic history in sequence. Sites to search for fossils.

Terraces and Layered Sedimentary Deposits Lacustrine Terraces Open window on hydrogeological variations during the lake lifetime. Lacustrine Terraces, and Structural Terraces provide access to ancient crust material and subsequent sedimentary and geologic history. Climate accessible by morphologic analysis and sediment mineralogical composition. Sites to search for fossils.

Shorelines, Mounds, Evaporites Mounds associated with shoreline They could be either relics of ancient sedimentary deposits or tufas towers as suggested in recent works. Tufas Tower: sites for diversified commu- nities of bacterias. They are observed near shore. Evaporites - Climate, regional envir. - Chemistry of the basin - Lifetime of crater lake - Can host microorganisms Margin of deposits and traces of waning After Cabrol and Grin, 1999 Icarus.

What Environments for Life in Martian Impact Crater Lakes Water:prerequisite for Life Evaporites (carbonates, sulfates...): Halophiles... Caves (dissolution, thermokarst, cracks): Troglodytes Sediments: Endoliths,chasmoendoliths, Chemolithoautotrophic organisms, etc... Hydrothermal Systems: Thermophilic Bacterias Ice: algae... Fossils in Layers, Terraces. Possibly at surface if excavated by young impacts

Some Favorites: 2003 and Beyond ~ 180 Impact Crater Lakes at Viking Resolution Probably thousands will be discovered at MOC and M-Ex Res. Latitudes should not be a constraint for studies as it varies with mission windows of opportunities and landing precision will be improved with future technologies. - Gusev (2003?) - Gale (2003?) - Schiaparelli (2003) - 7-km crater in Newton - Many others (Holden, Galle, Pollack, etc…)

Gusev

Gale

Schiaparelli

C-Newton C-Newton