Raman imagery: a new approach to assess the geochemical maturity and biogenicity of permineralized precambrian fossils

Laser-Raman imagery is a non-intrusive, non-destructive analytical technique, recently introduced to Precambrian paleobiology, that can be used to demonstrate a one-to-one spatial correlation between the optically discernible morphology and kerogenous composition of permineralized fossil microorganisms. Made possible by the submicron-scale resolution of the technique and its high sensitivity to the Raman signal of carbonaceous matter, such analyses can be used to determine the chemical-structural characteristics of organic-walled microfossils and associated sapropelic carbonaceous matter in acid-resistant residues and petrographic thin sections. Here we use this technique to analyze kerogenous microscopic fossils and associated carbonaceous sapropel permineralized in 22 unmetamorphosed or little-metamorphosed fine-grained chert units ranging from approximately 400 to approximately 2,100 Ma old. The lineshapes of the Raman spectra acquired vary systematically with five indices of organic geochemical maturation: (1) the mineral-based metamorphic grade of the fossil-bearing units; (2) the fidelity of preservation of the fossils studied; (3) the color of the organic matter analyzed; and both the (4) H/C and (5) N/C ratios measured in particulate kerogens isolated from bulk samples of the fossil-bearing cherts. Deconvolution of relevant spectra shows that those of relatively well-preserved permineralized kerogens analyzed in situ exhibit a distinctive set of Raman bands that are identifiable also in hydrated organic-walled microfossils and particulate carbonaceous matter freed from the cherts by acid maceration. These distinctive Raman bands, however, become indeterminate upon dehydration of such specimens. To compare quantitatively the variations observed among the spectra measured, we introduce the Raman Index of Preservation, an approximate measure of the geochemical maturity of the kerogens studied that is consistent both with the five indices of organic geochemical alteration and with spectra acquired from fossils experimentally heated under controlled laboratory conditions. The results reported provide new insight into the chemical-structural characteristics of ancient carbonaceous matter, the physicochemical changes that accompany organic geochemical maturation, and a new criterion to be added to the suite of evidence by which to evaluate the origin of minute fossil-like objects of possible but uncertain biogenicity.     

U.S. prebreathe protocol

This paper identifies and describes the prebreathe protocol currently used by the U.S. Space Shuttle Program to provide astronauts the capability to safely perform extravehicular activity. A comparison of planned vs actual prebreathe experience through the STS-37 Mission is also provided.     

Discovery of a new chert-permineralized microbiota in the Proterozoic Buxa Formation of the Ranjit window, Sikkim, northeast India, and its astrobiological implications

For the foreseeable future, the search for evidence of past life in rocks acquired from other planets will be constrained by the amount of sample available and by the fidelity of preservation of any fossils present. What amount of rock is needed to establish the existence of past life? To address this question, we studied a minute amount of rock collected from cherty dolomites of the Proterozoic Buxa Formation in the metamorphically altered tectonically active northeastern Himalaya. In particular, we investigated 2 small petrographic thin sections-one from each of 2 bedded chert horizons exposed in the Ranjit River stratigraphic section northwest of Rishi, Sikkim, India-that together comprise an area of approximately 5 cm(2) (about the size of a US postage stamp) and have a total rock weight of approximately 0.1 g. Optical microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy and imagery demonstrate that each of the thin sections contains a rich assemblage of 3-dimensionally permineralized organic-walled microfossils. This study, the first report of Proterozoic microfossils in units of the Ranjit tectonic window, demonstrates that firm evidence of early life can be adduced from even a minuscule amount of fossil-bearing ancient rock.     

Past, present, and future: the U.S. EVA program

This paper provides an overview and summary of U.S. extravehicular activity accomplishments of the last 26 years, Space Shuttle missions having scheduled extravehicular activities to be performed over the next several years, extravehicular activities expected to be necessary to support Space Station Freedom assembly tasks and operations, and potential extravehicular activity roles of the NASA Space Exploration Initiative Program.     

Morphological biosignatures and the search for life on Mars

This report provides a rationale for the advances in instrumentation and understanding needed to assess claims of ancient and extraterrestrial life made on the basis of morphological biosignatures. Morphological biosignatures consist of bona fide microbial fossils as well as microbially influenced sedimentary structures. To be recognized as evidence of life, microbial fossils must contain chemical and structural attributes uniquely indicative of microbial cells or cellular or extracellular processes. When combined with various research strategies, high-resolution instruments can reveal such attributes and elucidate how morphological fossils form and become altered, thereby improving the ability to recognize them in the geological record on Earth or other planets. Also, before fossilized microbially influenced sedimentary structures can provide evidence of life, criteria to distinguish their biogenic from non-biogenic attributes must be established. This topic can be advanced by developing process-based models. A database of images and spectroscopic data that distinguish the suite of bona fide morphological biosignatures from their abiotic mimics will avoid detection of false-positives for life. The use of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic instruments, in conjunction with an improved knowledge base of the attributes that demonstrate life, will maximize our ability to recognize and assess the biogenicity of extraterrestrial and ancient terrestrial life.     

Gypsum-permineralized microfossils and their relevance to the search for life on Mars

Abstract Orbital and in situ analyses establish that aerially extensive deposits of evaporitic sulfates, including gypsum, are present on the surface of Mars. Although comparable gypsiferous sediments on Earth have been largely ignored by paleontologists, we here report the finding of diverse fossil microscopic organisms permineralized in bottom-nucleated gypsums of seven deposits: two from the Permian (～260?Ma) of New Mexico, USA; one from the Miocene (～6?Ma) of Italy; and four from Recent lacustrine and saltern deposits of Australia, Mexico, and Peru. In addition to presenting the first report of the widespread occurrence of microscopic fossils in bottom-nucleated primary gypsum, we show the striking morphological similarity of the majority of the benthic filamentous fossils of these units to the microorganisms of a modern sulfuretum biocoenose. Based on such similarity, in morphology as well as habitat, these findings suggest that anaerobic sulfur-metabolizing microbial assemblages have changed relatively little over hundreds of millions of years. Their discovery as fossilized components of the seven gypsiferous units reported suggests that primary bottom-nucleated gypsum represents a promising target in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. Key Words: Confocal laser scanning microscopy-Gypsum fossils-Mars sample return missions-Raman spectroscopy-Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument-Sulfuretum. Astrobiology 12, 619-633.     

Three-dimensional confocal optical imagery of precambrian microscopic organisms

A major difficulty that has long hindered studies of organic-walled Precambrian microbes in petrographic thin sections is the accurate documentation of their three-dimensional morphology. To address this need, we here demonstrate the use of confocal laser scanning microscopy. This technique, both non-intrusive and non-destructive, can provide data by which to objectively characterize, in situ and at submicron-scale resolution, the cellular and organismal morphology of permineralized (petrified) microorganisms. Application of this technique can provide information in three dimensions about the morphology, taphonomy, and fidelity of preservation of such fossils at a spatial resolution unavailable by any other means.