Indigenous microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites

Richard B. Hoover; Gregory Jerman; Alexei Yu. Rozanov; Paul P. Sipiera

doi:10.1117/12.566491

1 November 2004 Indigenous microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites

Richard B. Hoover, Gregory Jerman, Alexei Yu. Rozanov, Paul P. Sipiera

Proceedings Volume 5555, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VIII; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566491
Event: Optical Science and Technology, the SPIE 49th Annual Meeting, 2004, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Indigenous embedded microbial filaments, bacterial cells and other microfossils were found in the Orgueil, Ivuna (CI1), Murchison, and Bells (CM2) carbonaceous meteorites. Biominerals, biofilms, framboids, magnetite platelets, and curious elemental iron ovoids covered with minute fibrils and carbon sheaths were also found. The S-4100 Hitachi Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX) were used for in situ investigations of freshly fractured interior meteorite surfaces. EDAX x-ray spectra shows the microfossils bear signatures of the meteorite matrix and possess elemental ratios indicating they are indigenous and not recent microbial contaminants. Many of the well-preserved biogenic remains in the meteorites are encased within carbon-rich, sometimes electron transparent, sheaths. Their size, morphology and ultra microstructure are comparable to microfossils known from the phosphorites of Khubsughul, Mongolia and to some of the living cyanobacteria and other sulfur- and sulfate-reducing bacteria known from the halophilic Microcoleus mats of Sivash Lagoon, Crimea and from Mono Lake in California.

Citation Download Citation

Richard B. Hoover, Gregory Jerman, Alexei Yu. Rozanov, and Paul P. Sipiera "Indigenous microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites", Proc. SPIE 5555, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology VIII, (1 November 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.566491

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