Lava Tube Microbes Could Live on Mars

During an expedition conducted in the Cascade Mountains, researchers in the United States collected microbe samples from within ice trapped in a lava tube. Further analysis revealed that microbes can thrive in this environment, which is extremely similar to Mars in many respects.

The research again confirms that it may be entirely possible for life to have survived on Mars, if it managed to develop at all during the billions of years in which the Red Planet was habitable and had liquid water on its surface.

Life had enough time to appear, many believe. If it did not develop there as a result of natural conditions, then it may have been taken to our neighboring planet aboard chunks of rock ejected from Earth following powerful cosmic collisions.

Studies conducted over the past few years have demonstrated that microorganisms can survive being ejected into space following such an impact, that they can survive for prolonged periods of time in the harsh conditions of open space, and also that they can withstand fiery atmospheric reentries.

In the lava tube researchers at the Oregon State University (OSU) studied for this research, the team discovered microbes that lived in extremely low temperature, in an environment where only trace amounts of oxygen were available for consumption.

Organic food was entirely absent near the area where the colonies were found, which means that the microbes can derive whatever nourishment they need from the ice itself. In this particular case, the organisms were getting their energy by oxidizing iron in the common volcanic mineral olivine.

With this capability, such microbes would thrive on Mars and on other bodies in the solar system, the OSU team writes in a paper published in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Astrobiology.

“This microbe is from one of the most common genera of bacteria on Earth. You can find its cousins in caves, on your skin, at the bottom of the ocean and just about anywhere. What is different, in this case, is its unique qualities that allow it to grow in Mars-like conditions,” Amy Smith explained.

The researcher is a PhD student at OSU, and also one of the authors on the study. She added that the microbes can switch to consuming organic materials such as sugar once they are taken out of the ice. This implies that the oxidation of olivine iron is an evolutionary adaptation to a harsh environment.

“This reaction involving a common mineral from volcanic rocks just hasn't been documented before. In volcanic rocks directly exposed to air and at warmer temperatures, the oxygen in the atmosphere oxidizes the iron before the microbes can use it,” Martin Fisk said.

The expert holds an appointment as a professor in the OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, and is also an author on the new study, SpaceRef reports.