Bacterial communities and the nitrogen cycle in the gypsum soils of Cuatro Cienegas Basin, coahuila: a Mars analogue.

ABSTRACT: The OMEGA/Mars Express hyperspectral imager identified gypsum at several sites on Mars in 2005. These minerals constitute a direct record of past aqueous activity and are important with regard to the search of extraterrestrial life. Gale Crater was chosen as Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity's landing site because it is rich in gypsum, as are some desert soils of the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) (Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico). The gypsum of the CCB, which is overlain by minimal carbonate deposits, was the product of magmatic activity that occurred under the Tethys Sea. To examine this Mars analogue, we retrieved gypsum-rich soil samples from two contrasting sites with different humidity in the CCB. To characterize the site, we obtained nutrient data and analyzed the genes related to the N cycl

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Lozano NE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3426888 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature