Determine 4. Optical microscopy and SEM pictures and EDX spectra. Optical microscopy pictures, below transmitted plane-polarized mild (A, B), mirrored plane-polarized mild (C, E, F), transmitted cross-polarized mild (D, J, Ok). SEM pictures (G, H) and SEM-EDX spectrum (I) of permineralized filamentous microfossils throughout the turbid laminae. (A) Community of sinuous µm lengthy filaments to mm lengthy curved fossil filaments (white triangles), and 20–80 µm width. (B) Shut-up picture of fossil filament with two uncovered sides displaying the filament’s place to the crystal airplane. (C) Picture of hole to partially hole filament (black arrow). (E, F) Photos present the offset of the gypsum-embedded fossil filament, contrasting with a secondary veinlet (black arrows). (D, J) Photos displaying excessive birefringence of the subspherical minerals. (Ok) Picture of a fossil filament with black and opaque inclusions (white arrows). (G) SEM picture of hole filament marked in (A). Word the presence of an connected small gap on the proper facet of the fossil filament. (H) Magnification of the marked white rectangle in (G) displaying the completely different mineral situated within the inside layer of the hole filament. (I) Comparability of EDX spectra of the fossil filament (blue and purple) with the host EDX spectrum (yellow) (measured places are indicated in (H)). (the three spectra have been normalized to the 197Au cps/eV worth).
Researchers from the College of Bern, in collaboration with the College of Science and Expertise Houari Boumediene in Algeria, have made vital progress in astrobiology. In a just lately revealed examine, they have been in a position to detect fossil microorganisms in Messinian gypsum, which is present in Algeria, utilizing the Bernese mass spectrometer LIMS. This exhibits that LIMS may be used to seek for traces of life in related deposits on Mars sooner or later.
Gypsum deposits on Mars might conceal traces of historical life – microbes that resemble the primary life types on Earth 4 billion years in the past. Detecting such biosignatures, i.e. traces of life, requires high-precision devices that additionally work in house.
Researchers on the College of Bern have now efficiently examined a miniaturized, laser-powered mass spectrometer referred to as LIMS (Laser Ionization Mass Spectrometer) on Earth. They have been in a position to present that the instrument developed in Bern is ready to determine traces of microbial fossils in terrestrial gypsum deposits that have been shaped below related circumstances to deposits on Mars. The house instrument might subsequently be utilized in future Mars missions to seek for previous life on Mars. The examine, led by Youcef Sellam from the Division of Area Analysis and Planetology on the Physics Institute of the College of Bern, has simply been revealed in Frontiers in Astronomy and Area Science.
Traces of life in hundreds of thousands of years outdated gypsum
The Algerian gypsum deposits studied by Sellam’s group date again to the time of the so-called Messinian Salinity Disaster. Throughout this geological interval round six to 5 million years in the past, the Mediterranean Sea partially to nearly fully dried up. Evaporites as much as 2 km thick have been deposited within the deepest sea basins. These shaped the idea for the so-called “Messinian gypsum”. “Our examine exhibits that gypsum can protect fossil microorganisms and is ready to protect microbial life over lengthy geological time durations,” says Sellam.
Mars has distinctive environmental circumstances that would have influenced the preservation of biosignatures over geological time durations. However, Sellam explains: “Deposits much like these in Algeria that exist on Mars within the former Martian seas are, in our view, promising targets for astrobiological analysis and for the detection of life on Mars.”
Not solely did the gypsum samples used for the examine come from Algeria, a rustic with outstanding geological formations that may present beneficial insights into planetary environments. The Algerian College of Science and Expertise Houari Boumediene additionally contributed necessary geological experience. Sellam says: “That is the primary astrobiological examine involving Algeria. As an Algerian researcher, I’m significantly happy that we will strengthen Algeria’s presence in planetology and the scientific group with this examine.”
Bernese instrument match for Mars
The analysis group succeeded in detecting biosignatures within the terrestrial gypsum deposits utilizing LIMS, the miniaturized laser mass spectrometer developed and constructed on the College of Bern. LIMS will fly to the moon in 2027 and will likely be used there for the chemical evaluation of lunar rocks (for extra info, see additionally right here). As half of the present examine, it was additional developed in order that the gypsum deposits might be examined.
Peter Wurz, Professor of Astrophysics on the College of Bern and mission chief for LIMS, explains: “The examine exhibits that LIMS can successfully detect biosignatures in sulphate minerals reminiscent of gypsum. So the know-how is actually able to be built-in into future Mars rovers or Mars landers for on-site evaluation.”
Determine 1. Geographical and Geological context. (A) Map of the Mediterranean Sea displaying the evaporites distribution (modified after Manzi et al., 2012). (B) Paleogeographic map of the Western Mediterranean through the Messinian salinity disaster, highlighting the principal evaporite depocenters with dotted areas (modified after Manzi et al., 2012). Emerged areas are shaded in grey, whereas a dotted line denotes the trendy shoreline. The asterisk designates the examine space; Sidi Boutbal quarry, Decrease Chelif basin, Algeria. (C) Schematic stratigraphy of the SB quarry. (D) The boundary between the gypsum mattress 4, 3 and a pair of. (D) Geological cross part of the Messinian deposits of the Sidi Boutbal quarry. The purple asterisks in (A, B) signifies the Sidi Boutbal quarry location and the black asterisks in (C, D, E) point out the sampled gypsum mattress unit 3. — Entrance. Astron. Area Sci.
Sellam Y, Gruchola S, Tulej M, Keresztes Schmidt P, Riedo A, Meddane S and Wurz P (2025). The search for ancient life on Mars using morphological and mass spectrometric analysis: an analog study in detecting microfossils in Messinian gypsum. In: Entrance. Astron. Area Sci. DOI: 10.3389/fspas.2025.1503042 (open entry)
Astrobiology,
