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Salty Environments: The importance of evaporites and brine environments as habitats and preservers of biosignatures

Whitepaper #240 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. Topics: field studies; habitability and water; Mars

Published onMar 18, 2021
Salty Environments: The importance of evaporites and brine environments as habitats and preservers of biosignatures

The habitability of ancient Mars is directly related to the presence of late Noachian surface waters and their stability over geologic time. Evaporite minerals can capture and entomb organic matter, biological compounds, and intact cells within their intercrystalline and intracrystalline structure because they precipitate relatively quickly.

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