Ancient Soils of Earth and Mars

Adrian Broz

Purdue University

University of Oregon

Watch the recorded presentation

Decades of space exploration have shown that the surface of Mars billions of years ago was a habitable place that had abundant liquid water. The formation of soil from precipitation-driven weathering of volcanic ash and tuff may have been a common process early in the planet's history. Ancient soils on Earth preserve biosignatures (past signs of life) and hold a record of the climate when they formed, and thus Martian paleosols are considered high-priority targets for biosignature investigation and sample return to Earth.

This talk will explore the factors that lead to enhanced preservation of biosignatures in paleosols from throughout Earth's geological record. As a case study, we use eastern Oregon's "Painted Hills" as a Mars-analog location to determine if Mars-rover-like instruments are suitable for examining the mineralogy, diagenesis and organic content of ancient soils. Please join us in exploring ancient soils of Earth and Mars!

Adrian Broz is the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover postdoctoral scientist at Purdue University, and works in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Lab at the University of Oregon.

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