With this project, financed by the Ministry of Education and Science, the scientists hope to contribute to explain the great incognita of the possibility of life in Mars.
The meteorite, called ALH84001, was found in the region of Allen Hills in the Antarctica in 1984. However, it was in 1996 when a group of scientists suggested that it could contain remains of biological activity. The meteorite in question is a two-kilo rock fragment made up of the mineral silicate mineral orthopyroxene, with feldspathic crystals, olivine and phases of carbonates and phyllosilicates. According to the supervisor of the research project, Concepción Jiménez López, of the Department of Microbiology, of the Universidad de Granada, there is no objective criterion to distinguish the biological or abiotic origin (by chemical processes) of the natural samples.
Concepción Jiménez explains that such criteria would be essential to conclude if the magnetite samples found in meteorite ALH84001 are related to bacterial activity in Mars. According to the researcher, uncertainty aroused when we discovered that magnetite crystals and iron oxides found in the meteorite present similar characteristics to those formed by the magnetotactic bacteria on Earth.
To contribute to this controversy, the scientists from Granada are forming magnetites by chemical processes comparing them with magnetites whose formation has been induced or controlled by different bacteria.
The researchers are looking for new criteria to distinguish the inorganic or organic origin of the natural samples. The following step, according to Concepción Jiménez, will be to compare the results of the research work with the magnetite samples found in the meteorite.
Reference:
Prof Concepción Jiménez López. Dpt of Microbiology.
Phone number: 958 242 858. Mobile: 665 011 692. E-mail: cjl@ugr.es.
