Unveiling Challenging Microbial Fossil Biosignatures from Rio Tinto with Micro-to-Nanoscale Chemical and Ultrastructural Imaging
Understanding the nature and preservation of microbial traces in extreme environments is crucial for reconstructing Earth's early biosphere and for the search for life on other planets or moons. At Rio Tinto, southwestern Spain, ferric oxide and sulfate deposits similar to those discovered at Meridiani Planum, Mars, entomb a diversity of fossilized organisms, despite chemical conditions commonly thought to be challenging for life and fossil preservation. Investigating this unique fossil microbiota can elucidate ancient extremophile communities and the preservation of biosignatures in acidic environments on Earth and, potentially, Mars. In this study, we use an innovative multiscale approach that combines the state-of-the-art synchrotron X-ray nanoimaging methods of ptychographic X-ray computed laminography and nano-X-ray fluorescence to reveal Rio Tinto's microfossils at subcellular resolution. The unprecedented nanoscale views of several different specimens within their geological and geochemical contexts reveal novel intricacies of preserved microbial communities. Different morphotypes, ecological interactions, and possible taxonomic affinities were inferred based on qualitative and quantitative 3D ultrastructural information, whereas diagenetic processes and metabolic affinities were inferred from complementary chemical information. Our integrated nano-to-microscale analytical approach revealed previously invisible microbial and mineral interactions, which complemented and filled a gap of spatial resolution in conventional methods. Ultimately, this study contributes to the challenge of deciphering the faint chemical and morphological biosignatures that can indicate life's presence on the early Earth and on distant worlds.
WOS:001265333800001
38985734
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Macau University of Science & Technology
Universite Claude Bernard Lyon 1
Harvard University
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain
Campinas Univ
Communaute Universite Grenoble Alpes
Universite Gustave-Eiffel
Institut Universitaire de France
2024-07-10
24
7
721
733
REVIEWED
EPFL