Organic synthesis on Mars by electrochemical reduction of CO2

A Steele; L G Benning; R Wirth; S Siljeström; M D Fries; E Hauri; P G Conrad; K Rogers; J Eigenbrode; A Schreiber; A Needham; J H Wang; F M McCubbin; D Kilcoyne; Juan Diego Rodriguez Blanco

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aat5118

Organic synthesis on Mars by electrochemical reduction of CO₂

Sci Adv. 2018 Oct 31;4(10):eaat5118. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aat5118. eCollection 2018 Oct.

Authors

A Steele¹, L G Benning^{2

3

4}, R Wirth², S Siljeström⁵, M D Fries⁶, E Hauri⁷, P G Conrad¹, K Rogers⁸, J Eigenbrode⁹, A Schreiber², A Needham¹⁰, J H Wang⁷, F M McCubbin⁶, D Kilcoyne¹¹, Juan Diego Rodriguez Blanco^{4

12}

Affiliations

¹ Carnegie Institution for Science, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
² German Research Centre for Geosciences, GFZ, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
³ Department of Earth Sciences, Free University of Berlin, 12249 Berlin, Germany.
⁴ School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
⁵ RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Bioscience and Materials/Chemistry, Materials and Surfaces, Box 5607, 114 86 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ NASA, Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁷ Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Rd, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
⁸ Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA.
⁹ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁰ USRA-Science and Technology Institute, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805, USA.
¹¹ Advanced Light Source, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 7R0222, LBNL, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹² ICRAG, Department of Geology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Abstract

The sources and nature of organic carbon on Mars have been a subject of intense research. Steele et al. (2012) showed that 10 martian meteorites contain macromolecular carbon phases contained within pyroxene- and olivine-hosted melt inclusions. Here, we show that martian meteorites Tissint, Nakhla, and NWA 1950 have an inventory of organic carbon species associated with fluid-mineral reactions that are remarkably consistent with those detected by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. We advance the hypothesis that interactions among spinel-group minerals, sulfides, and a brine enable the electrochemical reduction of aqueous CO₂ to organic molecules. Although documented here in martian samples, a similar process likely occurs wherever igneous rocks containing spinel-group minerals and/or sulfides encounter brines.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.