Shows investigations on Earth's asphalt lakes

May 7, 2010 07:01 GMT  ·  By

According to astrobiologists, the asphalt lakes that can be found at several locations on our planet are the closest accessible equivalent to the liquid hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. This is one of the main reasons why they are oftentimes used as proxies in conducting various types of research associated with the Saturnine moon. Now, scientists hypothesize that the frigid lakes that adorn the moon's north and south poles may in fact be harboring life, Space reports.

The idea is derived from the fact that the harsh environment of Earth-based asphalt lakes is densely-populated with microbial populations. In addition to providing new potential explanations for how life appeared on our planet, these microbes may also help astrobiologists develop more efficient methods of looking for lifeforms on distant planets and moons.

“An obvious future step is to look at the adaptation mechanisms of these microbes and how they manage to make a living in Pitch Lake, which will give us also some idea of possible adaptation mechanisms for putative extraterrestrial life on Titan,” explains Washington State University astrobiology researcher Dirk Schulze-Makuch, who was a part of the research team for the new study. Pitch Lake is the larges asphalt lake on Earth, and is located on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It covers an area roughly the size of the Vatican, and produces bubbling asphalt, as well as hydrocarbon and carbon dioxide gases.

“If we find life [on Titan], it most likely would be of a separate origin, which would greatly inform us how diverse life truly can be and would also greatly increase the chances of finding life outside of our solar system,” the expert adds. In a paper submitted for publication to the highly-regarded scientific journal Astrobiology, the researcher adds that the new investigation could also contribute to improving our planet. Scientists could use the new data to produce microbial treatment systems that could help clean up oil spills, or various manufacturing processes.