Grotzinger, J. P. and Sumner, D. Y. and Kah, L. C. and Stack, K. and Gupta, S. and Edgar, L. and Rubin, D. and Lewis, K. and Schieber, J. and Mangold, N. and Milliken, R. and Conrad, P. G. and Des Marais, D. and Farmer, J. and Siebach, K. and Calef, F. and Hurowitz, J. and McLennan, S. M. and Ming, D. and Vaniman, D. and Crisp, J. and Vasavada, A. and Edgett, K. S. and Malin, M. and Blake, D. and Gellert, R. and Mahaffy, P. and Wiens, R. C. and Maurice, S. and Grant, J. A. and Wilson, S. and Anderson, R. A. and Beegle, L. and Arvidson, R. and Hallet, B. and Sletten, R. S. and Rice, M. and Bell, J., III and Griffes, J. and Ehlmann, B. and Anderson, R. B. and Bristow, T. F. and Dietrich, W. E. and Dromart, G. and Eigenbrode, J. and Fraeman, A. and Hardgrove, C. and Herkenhoff, K. and Jandura, L. and Kocurek, G. and Lee, S. and Leshin, L. A. and Léveillé, R. and Limonadi, D. and Maki, J. and McCloskey, S. and Meyer, M. and Minitti, M. and Newsom, H. and Oehler, D. and Okon, A. and Palucis, M. and Parker, T. and Rowland, S. and Schmidt, M. and Squyres, S. and Steele, A. and Stolper, E. and Summons, R. and Treiman, A. and Williams, R. and Yingst, A. (2014) A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars. Science, 343 (6169). Art. no. 1242777. ISSN 0036-8075. http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20131122-092901138
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The Curiosity rover discovered fine-grained sedimentary rocks, inferred to represent an ancient lake, preserve evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support a Martian biosphere founded on chemolithoautotrophy. This aqueous environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable redox states of both iron and sulfur species. C, H, O, S, N, and P were measured directly as key biogenic elements, and by inference N and P are assumed to have been available. The environment likely had a minimum duration of hundreds to tens of thousands of years. These results highlight the biological viability of fluvial-lacustrine environments in the post-Noachian history of Mars.
|Alternate Title:||Exploring Martian Habitability|
|Additional Information:||Copyright 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Submitted Manuscript: 29 October 2013. Received for publication 4 July 2013. Accepted for publication 6 November 2013. Published Online December 9 2013. The authors are indebted to the Mars Science Laboratory Project engineering and management teams, for their exceptionally skilled and diligent efforts in making the mission as effective as possible and enhancing science operations. We are also grateful to all those MSL team members who participated in tactical and strategic operations. Without the support of both the engineering and science teams, the data presented here could not have been collected. Some of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Data presented in this paper are archived in the Planetary Data System (pds.nasa.gov)|
|Subject Keywords:||Yellowknife Bay ; Gale Crater ; Mars ; Mars Science Laboratory ; Curiosity|
|Non-Subject Keywords:||Mars Science Laboratory ; Curiosity ; NASA|
|Official Citation:||A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars J. P. Grotzinger, D. Y. Sumner, L. C. Kah, K. Stack, S. Gupta, L. Edgar, D. Rubin, K. Lewis, J. Schieber, N. Mangold, R. Milliken, P. G. Conrad, D. DesMarais, J. Farmer, K. Siebach, F. Calef III, J. Hurowitz, S. M. McLennan, D. Ming, D. Vaniman, J. Crisp, A. Vasavada, K. S. Edgett, M. Malin, D. Blake, R. Gellert, P. Mahaffy, R. C. Wiens, S. Maurice, J. A. Grant, S. Wilson, R. C. Anderson, L. Beegle, R. Arvidson, B. Hallet, R. S. Sletten, M. Rice, J. Bell III, J. Griffes, B. Ehlmann, R. B. Anderson, T. F. Bristow, W. E. Dietrich, G. Dromart, J. Eigenbrode, A. Fraeman, C. Hardgrove, K. Herkenhoff, L. Jandura, G. Kocurek, S. Lee, L. A. Leshin, R. Leveille, D. Limonadi, J. Maki, S. McCloskey, M. Meyer, M. Minitti, H. Newsom, D. Oehler, A. Okon, M. Palucis, T. Parker, S. Rowland, M. Schmidt, S. Squyres, A. Steele, E. Stolper, R. Summons, A. Treiman, R. Williams, A. Yingst, and MSL Science Team Science 24 January 2014: 343 (6169), 1242777Published online 9 December 2013 [DOI:10.1126/science.1242777]|
|Usage Policy:||No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.|
|Deposited By:||Katherine Johnson|
|Deposited On:||09 Dec 2013 21:42|
|Last Modified:||28 Jan 2014 18:39|
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