Imperial College London
Professor Sanjeev Gupta

ProfessorSanjeevGupta

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Professor of Earth Science
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6527s.gupta

 
 
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Location

 

Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Eigenbrode:2018:10.1126/science.aas9185,
author = {Eigenbrode, JL and Summons, RE and Steele, A and Freissinet, C and Millan, M and Navarro-González, R and Sutter, B and McAdam, AC and Franze, H and Glavin, D and Archer, PD and Mahaffy, P and Conrad, PG and Hurowitz, JA and Grotzinger, JP and Gupta, S and Ming, D and Sumner, DY and Szopa, C and Malespin, C and Buch, A and Coll, P},
doi = {10.1126/science.aas9185},
journal = {Science},
pages = {1096--1101},
title = {Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aas9185},
volume = {360},
year = {2018}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Establishing the presence and state of organic matter, including its possible biosignatures, in martian materials has been an elusive quest, despite limited reports of the existence of organic matter on Mars. We report the in situ detection of organic matter preserved in lacustrine mudstones at the base of the ~3.5-billion-year-old Murray formation at Pahrump Hills, Gale crater, by the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite onboard the Curiosity rover. Diverse pyrolysis products, including thiophenic, aromatic, and aliphatic compounds released at high temperatures (500° to 820°C), were directly detected by evolved gas analysis. Thiophenes were also observed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Their presence suggests that sulfurization aided organic matter preservation. At least 50 nanomoles of organic carbon persists, probably as macromolecules containing 5% carbon as organic sulfur molecules.
AU  - Eigenbrode,JL
AU  - Summons,RE
AU  - Steele,A
AU  - Freissinet,C
AU  - Millan,M
AU  - Navarro-González,R
AU  - Sutter,B
AU  - McAdam,AC
AU  - Franze,H
AU  - Glavin,D
AU  - Archer,PD
AU  - Mahaffy,P
AU  - Conrad,PG
AU  - Hurowitz,JA
AU  - Grotzinger,JP
AU  - Gupta,S
AU  - Ming,D
AU  - Sumner,DY
AU  - Szopa,C
AU  - Malespin,C
AU  - Buch,A
AU  - Coll,P
DO  - 10.1126/science.aas9185
EP  - 1101
PY  - 2018///
SN  - 0036-8075
SP  - 1096
TI  - Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars
T2  - Science
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aas9185
UR  - https://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1096
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/60810
VL  - 360
ER  -
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