From Warm And Wet To Cold And Dry On Mars: Ancient Environments As Seen From A Rover Perspective

我从小就开始对地质学感兴趣，当时我在家乡的海滩上举起了每一块鹅卵石。除了对科学的理解外，还有地理学普通中等教育证书、地质学A级、地质学与石油理学学士学位和行星科学硕士学位。我喜欢了解地球过去的环境，并将其应用于其他行星体。我拥有雄厚的地球科学基础，拥有阿伯丁大学的地质学和石油地质学学士学位。这个学位教会了我如何从地质样本中分析过去的环境。然后，我在伦敦大学学院攻读了行星科学硕士学位。在那里我了解了其他行星体的地质史，并探索了它们在地球上的类似物。最近推出的火星2020激发和激发了学术界对了解火星环境和宜居性的关注。我很乐意在我以后的职业生涯中使用这个任务将返回的未来样本。因此，为了支持美国宇航局的好奇心和毅力任务，通过确定火星车着陆点的水岩反应过程存在的环境条件，特别是从温暖潮湿到寒冷干燥的火星，我根据火星地质学的重点定制了我的模块和论文。包括一篇题为《比瓦比克组是早期火星的微化石类似物》的硕士论文。这包括实验室工作、文献综述、研究论文和演示文稿。我即将把这些结果改写成一篇论文，提交给同行评议的期刊。该项目包括对Biwabik地层的薄样进行矿物学评估，Biwabik地层是一种叠层石带状铁质地层，这种岩石被用作早期火星海岸线的类似物。我使用光学显微镜、拉曼光谱和带有能量色散X射线光谱的扫描电子显微镜记录了几个潜在的生物特征。这让我看到了许多反映碳氧化反应的形状，如斑点、葡萄状和漫反射梯度。我还记录了有机质和丝状形状，它们可能来自化石细菌。该项目之前进行了文献综述，内容包括火星地质学、叠层石、Biwabik地层地质学、微生物化石、扫描电子显微镜、能谱和拉曼等分析技术、碳氧化反应、火星探测任务和生物特征。我想继续发展火星环境方面的专业知识，无论是过去的还是现在的。这个项目启发了我，因为它帮助解决了科学界最大的问题：我们是太阳系中唯一适合人类居住的行星吗？美国国家航空航天局的好奇心和毅力仍然在火星上努力工作，检查这些岩石在亚马逊时代末从潮湿的火星过渡到干燥的火星和蒸发环境。我想通过使用热化学模型来确定水岩相互作用所处的环境条件，为帮助我们理解和揭开火星可能在湖泊中创造生命的故事的科学做出贡献。这种生命可能给我们留下了证据，比如蚀变矿物。在我的硕士论文中，我发现了类似于火星的Biwabik组叠层石的矿物反应的证据。不久的一天，坚持不懈的火星车将送回有史以来第一批从杰零陨石坑提取的火星样本。与此同时，使用基于地球的模拟来评估其生物潜力将对证明样本中的发现大有裨益。例如，记录仅由生物过程产生的次生蚀变矿物，可由SHERLOC和SuperCam在毅力号上检测到，因为这些将是强烈的生物特征

My interest in geology began as a child when I lifted every other pebble on my hometown's beach. Scientific understanding was added to this curiosity with a Geography GCSE, a Geology A Level, a Geology and Petroleum BSc and a Planetary Science MSc. I have loved learning about the Earth's past environments and applying it to other planetary bodies. I have a strong geoscience base with a BSc in Geology and Petroleum Geology, from The University of Aberdeen. This degree taught me how to analyse past environments from geological samples. I then went on to complete an MSc in Planetary Science at University College London. Where I learnt the geological history of other planetary bodies and explored earth-based analogues for them. The recent launch of Mars2020 has inspired andprovoked an academic focus on understanding Mars environment and habitability. I would love to work with the future samples that will be returned by this mission in my later career. Therefore, getting to support NASAs Curiosity and Perseverance missions by determining what environmental conditions were present for water-rock reaction processes at the rover landing sites, especially as wetransition from a warm and wet to a cold and dry Mars.During the above degrees, I tailored my modules and essays to a Martian geology focus. Including a master's thesis titled, The Biwabik Formation as A Microfossil Analogue of Early Mars'. This included laboratory work, a literature review, a research paper, and a presentation. I am about to rewrite these results into a paper for submission to peer-reviewed journals. This project is composed of a mineralogical assessment of thin samples of the Biwabik Formation, a stromatolite-banded iron formation, this rock was used as an analogue for an early Mars shoreline. I recorded several potential biosignatures using optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. This allowed me to see many shapes that mirror carbon oxidation reactions such as spotting, botryoids and diffuse gradients. I also recorded organic matter and filamentous shapes, that may have come from fossilised bacteria. This project was preceded by a literature review that covered Martian geology, stromatolites, Biwabik formation geology, fossilised microbes, analytical techniques such as SEM EDS and Raman, carbon oxidation reactions, Martian exploration missions and biosignatures. I would like to continue to develop an expertise in Martian environments, past and present. This project inspires me as it assists with the largest question in science, were we the only habitable planet in our solar system? NASAs Curiosity and Perseverance are still working hard on Mars, examining the rocks as they transitioned from a wet Mars to a dry Mars and evaporation environment at the end of the Amazonian period. I want to contribute to the science that will help us understand and unravel the story of Mars when there may have been life created within lakes, by using thermochemical modelling to determine the environmental conditions that water rock interactionstook place. This life may have left evidence for us, such as altered minerals. I found evidence of similar mineral reactions within a Mars analogue, Biwabik formation stromatolites, during my MSc thesis. One day soon Perseverance Rover will send us back the first ever Martian return samples, extracted from the Jezero Crater. In the meantime, evaluating its biological potential using Earth-basedsimulations will be of great use to prove the findings in the sample. For example, recording secondary alteration minerals that are only produced by biotic processes, detectable by SHERLOC and SuperCam on board Perseverance, as these would be strong biosignatures