Investigating the organic record of early Mars

西北非洲（NWA）7034和成对的石头是独特的火星陨石，为我们提供了第一个也是唯一的火星表面风化层样本。这些样品包含了各种各样的岩浆，冲击有关，和沉积碎屑一样古老的约。4.4 15亿年前的某个时候被合并。因此，NWA 7034陨石家族为我们提供了一个了解火星数十亿年地质演化的窗口。NWA 7034在矿物相中含有大分子碳（MMC）包裹体;对这些包裹体的初步观察表明，它们可能与其他玄武岩火星陨石中观察到的非生物成因MMC有类似的起源。然而，NWA 7034包含了44亿年前火星表面条件和成分的记录，当时火星可能是一个可居住的世界，这一事实保证了对其有机物质清单的彻底调查，以评估其起源。该项目将使用广泛的分析设施调查NWA 7034家族火星陨石的有机记录，包括本体分析和技术，例如共聚焦和扫描电子显微镜、光谱学（FTIR、拉曼）、（pyr）-GC-MS、NMR、无机（LA-ICP-MS、NanoSIMS）质谱法以及X射线显微和纳米断层摄影术。因此，这一项目提供了一个很好的机会，使人们能够接受旨在更清楚地了解火星早期有机记录的各种技术方面的培训，这种综合方法对于尽可能彻底地查明当时火星上产生的有机化合物的范围并调查其可能的来源至关重要。这也需要研究陆地类似物;通过将这些技术应用于已知记录早期陆地生命的沉积岩（例如，通过对英国Torridonian超群中的含化石层位和南非巴伯顿绿岩带的沉积物进行分析，我们可以确定支持生物成因的关键标志物，并评估经历长时间埋藏的有机物的保存潜力。

Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034 and paired stones are unique martian meteorites that provide us with our first and only samples of the martian surface regolith. These samples contain a variety of magmatic, impact-related, and sedimentary clasts as old as ca. 4.4 billion years old that were consolidated sometime around 1.5 billion years ago. The NWA 7034 clan of meteorites thus provides us with a window into the geological evolution of Mars over several billion years. NWA 7034 contains macromolecular carbon (MMC) inclusions in mineral phases; preliminary observations of these inclusions suggest they might have a similar origin than abiogenic MMC observed in other basaltic martian meteorites. However the fact that NWA 7034 contains a record of martian (sub)surface conditions and components from 4.4 billion years ago, at a time when Mars was likely a habitable world, warrants a thorough investigation of its organic material inventory to assess its origins.This project will investigate the organic record of martian meteorites from the NWA 7034 family using a wide array of analytical facilities, including bulk analysis and techniques such as confocal and scanning electron microscopy, spectroscopy (FTIR, Raman), (pyr)-GC-MS, NMR, inorganic (LA-ICP-MS, NanoSIMS) mass spectrometry, and X-ray micro- and nanotomography. This project thus provides a great opportunity to receive training in a wide range of techniques aimed at developing a clearer understanding of the organic record of the early Mars epoch.Such a combined approach is crucial to characterise as thoroughly as possible the range of organic compounds produced on Mars at that time, and investigate their likely origin. This also requires studying terrestrial analogues; by applying these techniques to sedimentary rocks known to record early terrestrial life (e.g., fossil-bearing horizons in the Torridonian Supergroup, UK and sediments from the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa), we can identify key markers supporting biogenicity, and assess the preservation potential of organics that have undergone burial for prolonged periods of time.