Skip to main content
Working in GPS
Access
Directory
Quick Links Click here to open the "Quick Links" submenu Down arrow
Quick Links for Faculty Quick Links for Staff Quick Links for Students
Caltech Logo
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
  • People
    • Professorial Faculty
    • Emeritus Faculty
    • Research Faculty
    • Visiting Faculty and Visitors
    • Postdoctoral Scholars
    • Graduate Students
    • Undergraduate Students
    • JPL Scientist
    • Member of Professional Staff
    • Research Staff
    • Support Staff
    • In Memoriam
  • Research
    • Research Programs Open Research Programs Submenu
      • Geology
      • Geobiology
      • Geochemistry
      • Geophysics
      • Planetary Sciences
      • Environmental Science and Engineering
    • Research Centers Open Research Centers Submenu
      • The Bruce Murray Lab
      • Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution (3CPE)
      • Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA)
      • Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG)
      • The Linde Center
      • Seismological Laboratory
    • Research Lab Schedule
    • Research Facilities - On Campus
    • Research Facilities - Off Campus
    • Research Administration
  • Academics
    • Undergraduate Program Open Undergraduate Program Submenu
      • Program Requirements
    • Graduate Program Open Graduate Program Submenu
      • Program Requirements
      • Grad Program FAQs
      • Admissions
      • Advising
      • Information for new grad students
      • Master's Degree
      • Doctoral Degree
    • Student Resources
    • Courses Open Courses Submenu
      • GPS Courses (2022-23)
      • ESE Courses (2022-23)
    • Field Trips Open Field Trips Submenu
      • Overnight Trips/Pandemic Rules
      • Contact Information Form for Class Field Trips
      • Contact Information Form for Research Field Trips
      • Field Vehicle Availability
    • Postdoc Information
  • Diversity
  • Resources
    • Libraries Open Libraries Submenu
      • GPS Library
      • Caltech Library
      • Mineral Collection
    • Meeting Facilities
    • Safety Resources Open Safety Resources Submenu
      • GPS Emergency Procedures
      • Emergency Action Plan (PDF)
      • Safety Contacts
      • Workplace Safety Checklist
      • Evacuation Map
    • Quick Links
  • News & Events
    • GPS Events this Week Open GPS Events this Week Submenu
      • GPS Group Calendar
    • Award Announcements
    • News
    • Calendar
  • About
    • GPS History
    • GPS at a Glance
    • Contact Open Contact Submenu
      • Administrative and Grants Management Contact List (PDF)
      • GPS Directory (PDF)
      • Academic Leadership
    • Visit
    • Positions Available Open Positions Available Submenu
      • Faculty Positions
      • Postdoctoral Positions
      • GPS Prize Postdoc Information
      • Staff Positions
      • Lecturer Positions
    • External Fellowship Opportunities Open External Fellowship Opportunities Submenu
      • Graduate Student Fellowship Opportunities
      • Post Doctoral Fellowship Opportunities
    • Support
    • In the News
Open search form
Menu Main Menu
Close
  • People Click here to open the "People" Submenu
  • Research Click here to open the "Research" Submenu
  • Academics Click here to open the "Academics" Submenu
  • Diversity
  • Resources Click here to open the "Resources" Submenu
  • News & Events Click here to open the "News & Events" Submenu
  • About Click here to open the "About" Submenu
Working in GPS
Access
Directory
Quick Links
Quick Links for Faculty Quick Links for Staff Quick Links for Students
People
Back
  • Professorial Faculty
  • Emeritus Faculty
  • Research Faculty
  • Visiting Faculty and Visitors
  • Postdoctoral Scholars
  • Graduate Students
  • Undergraduate Students
  • JPL Scientist
  • Member of Professional Staff
  • Research Staff
  • Support Staff
  • In Memoriam
Research
Back
  • Research Programs
    • Geology
    • Geobiology
    • Geochemistry
    • Geophysics
    • Planetary Sciences
    • Environmental Science and Engineering
  • Research Centers
    • The Bruce Murray Lab
    • Caltech Center for Comparative Planetary Evolution (3CPE)
    • Climate Modeling Alliance (CliMA)
    • Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG)
    • The Linde Center
    • Seismological Laboratory
  • Research Lab Schedule
  • Research Facilities - On Campus
  • Research Facilities - Off Campus
  • Research Administration
Academics
Back
  • Undergraduate Program
    • Program Requirements
  • Graduate Program
    • Program Requirements
    • Grad Program FAQs
    • Admissions
    • Advising
    • Information for new grad students
    • Master's Degree
    • Doctoral Degree
  • Student Resources
  • Courses
    • GPS Courses (2022-23)
    • ESE Courses (2022-23)
  • Field Trips
    • Overnight Trips/Pandemic Rules
    • Contact Information Form for Class Field Trips
    • Contact Information Form for Research Field Trips
    • Field Vehicle Availability
  • Postdoc Information
Resources
Back
  • Libraries
    • GPS Library
    • Caltech Library
    • Mineral Collection
  • Meeting Facilities
  • Safety Resources
    • GPS Emergency Procedures
    • Emergency Action Plan (PDF)
    • Safety Contacts
    • Workplace Safety Checklist
    • Evacuation Map
  • Quick Links
News & Events
Back
  • GPS Events this Week
    • GPS Group Calendar
  • Award Announcements
  • News
  • Calendar
About the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Back
  • GPS History
  • GPS at a Glance
  • Contact
    • Administrative and Grants Management Contact List (PDF)
    • GPS Directory (PDF)
    • Academic Leadership
  • Visit
  • Positions Available
    • Faculty Positions
    • Postdoctoral Positions
    • GPS Prize Postdoc Information
    • Staff Positions
    • Lecturer Positions
  • External Fellowship Opportunities
    • Graduate Student Fellowship Opportunities
    • Post Doctoral Fellowship Opportunities
  • Support
  • In the News
Open search form
Mars Rover

Geobiology Research Option

Related Pages open sidebar menu
Close
Geobiology
  • Areas of Study Open Areas of Study Submenu Close Areas of Study Submenu
    • History of Earth and Life
    • Microbiology and Microbial Ecology
    • Molecular and Isotopic Geobiology
    • Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction
    • Planetary Geobiology
  • People in Geobiology
  • Education Open Education Submenu Close Education Submenu
    • Undergraduate Program
    • Graduate Program
    • Geobiology Courses
    • Summer Training Course
  • Facilities & Resources
  • Geobiology Beyond Caltech
  • Contacts in Geobiology

Planetary Geobiology

This exciting new discipline is a natural outgrowth of Caltech's strong traditions in geobiology, geochemistry, geology, and planetary science. If geobiology asks what the interactions are between life and environment on Earth, then planetary geobiology extends that question to other planetary bodies. There we can ask if the current or past history of our solar system's planets and moons are, or were ever, habitable for microbial life. Loosely defined, a habitable environment is one that has water, sources of carbon and nutrients to enable organism metabolism, and a source of energy to fuel organism metabolism – in other words, the essential ingredients for life as we know it on Earth. Furthermore, if microbial life did originate on those planets, then which environments and materials might best be sampled to test that hypothesis? This requires application of conceptual models for microbial and microfossil/biomarker exploration built on experience with Earth's geobiological record, global to local mapping by orbiting satellites, and landed missions using rovers equipped with advanced analytical laboratories. Increasingly, this research this seems a lot like doing geobiology on Earth, but with robots instead.


We live in the golden era of Mars exploration. Two rovers – Curiosity and Opportunity, and four orbiters – Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and MAVEN routinely analyze the current and past states of the planet's environment. Each of these current missions has functioned so capably, performing well past their nominal operational periods, often with spectacular results and informing the broad range of environmental processes that transformed the surface of Mars, beginning over 4 billion years ago. Since landing at Gale crater in 2012 the Curiosity rover has driven over 15 km, studying rock formations dating back to 3.5 Ga, and thus overlapping with Earth's earliest well-preserved geobiological rock record — and enabling, for the first time, their direct comparison (see images below). Curiosity has returned a massive dataset to Earth that features results from drilling 18 unique samples of rock and soil involving dozens of laboratory analyses including x-ray diffraction, mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography; hundreds of rock samples have been analyzed via x-ray emission and laser-generated plasma emission spectra; thousands of images from the rover's seventeen cameras have been observed, along with millions of measurements of the atmosphere and radiation environment. All together, these data total over 15 Terabytes providing the basis for serious science for years to come.

Looking toward future missions of geobiological interest our faculty in the GPS division will be involved the next rover mission to Mars, to be launched in 2020, and beginning the process of collecting and analyzing samples for eventual return to Earth. In addition, we'll be involved in helping to develop the science rationale for the Europa Clipper mission which will explore that long sought icy moon of Jupiter, which harbors an alien sub-ice ocean.

Gale Crater, Mars
Image Lightbox
Gale Crater, Mars
Download Full Image

Image 1: The stratigraphic record of Gale Crater, Mars. These rocks are ~3.5 Ga and thus approximately similar in age to the oldest well-preserved stratigraphic record of Earth, in which we see the first direct microfossil evidence for life. This image is part of a Mastcam mosaic acquired by the Curiosity rover.

Murray Formation at Gale Crater
Image Lightbox
Murray Formation at Gale Crater
Download Full Image

Image #2. The Murray formation at Gale crater, Mars, near Marias Pass exposes significant thicknesses of finely-laminated, fine-grained sedimentary rocks formed in an ancient lake system (Grotzinger et al., 2015) that is considered an ancient habitable environment (Grotzinger et al., 2014). This rock is composed of ~80% by weight crystalline silica in addition to significant amorphous silica such as Opal-A (Morris et al. 2016). The rock was formed by accumulation of siliceous sediments in a shallow lake, and as such is remarkably similar to certain types of sedimentary rocks on earth (see below).

Athel Silicilyte
Image Lightbox
Athel Silicilyte
Download Full Image

Image #3. The Athel "silicilyte", Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, Sultanate of Oman. This rocks is composed of up to ~80% by weight finely-laminated silica, formed by likely microbial or inorganic processes that precipitated silica at the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary (Ramseyer et al., 2013;)

References

Grotzinger, J. (and 72 others), 2014, A habitable fluvial-lacustrine environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale crater, Mars. Science, 349. DOI: 10.1126/science.1242777.
Grotzinger J., (and 47 others), 2015, Deposition, exhumation, paleoclimate of an ancient lake deposit, Gale crater, Mars. Science, 350. DOI: 10.1126/science.aac7575.
Morris, R., (and 22 others), 2016, Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite detection in high-SiO2 sedimentary rock at gale crater.
Ramseyer, K., Amthor, J., Matter, A., Pettke, T., Wille, M., Fallick, A., 2012, Primary silica precipitate at the Precambrian/Cambrian boundary in the South Oman Salt Basin, Sultanate of Oman. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 39, 187-197.
Stolper, D., Love, G., Lyons, T., Young, E., Sessions, A., and Grotzinger, J., In Press, Paleoecology and paleoceanography of the Athel Silicilyte, Ediacaran-Cambrian boundary, Sultanate of Oman, Geobiology.

Caltech Torch
Caltech Logo
California Institute of Technology
map marker
1200 East California Boulevard
Pasadena, California 91125
Contact Us Report a Copyright Infringement Website Feedback Privacy Notice Site Content Copyright © 2023 Log In