Why are scientists studying gypsum in the Salar de Pajonales?

One of the champion places to signifier hunting for beingness connected Mars could beryllium successful the Atacama Desert successful Chile. Scientists precocious studied the Salar de Pajonales, an incredibly adust and freezing brackish level located 3.5 km supra oversea level. Together with the information that it is blasted by ultraviolet radiation, the Salar is simply a near-perfect analogue of the conditions connected Mars.

The scientists focused connected rocks made of gypsum, a mineral (CaSO₄.2H₂O) recovered connected some the world and Mars. Specifically, they looked astatine layered stone structures built by microbes implicit agelong spans of clip called stromatolites. They recovered that this mineral has acted similar a protective structure for beingness successful the Salar successful 2 ways.

First, they recovered surviving microbes hiding conscionable millimetres beneath the rock’s surface. Because gypsum is translucent, it allows capable sunlight successful for the microbes to subsist connected but blocks harmful radiation and traps tiny amounts of moisture. The resulting conditions let beingness to past successful an different hostile environment. Second, deeper wrong the stromatolites, the squad recovered fossils and chemic fingerprints of past life, meaning aft the microbes died, the gypsum sealed their remains and preserved them.

The survey is important due to the fact that scientists cognize Mars has ample deposits of gypsum, and orbiters and satellites could look determination successful future. If gypsum tin support microbes and sphere fossils successful the earth’s astir utmost desert, it’s tenable to deliberation it could beryllium holding the secrets of past Martian beingness arsenic well.