ReviewJournal of geophysical research. Planets2018
A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars.
Review in Journal of geophysical research. Planets, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multi-technique characterization of iron reduction by an AntarcticApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Could Life Have Started on Mars? Planetary Conditions That Assemble and Destroy Protocells.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Setting the geological scene for the origin of life and continuing open questions about its emergence.Frontiers in astronomy and space sciences · 2023Article
- Alteration history of Séítah formation rocks inferred by PIXL x-ray fluorescence, x-ray diffraction, and multispectral imaging on Mars.Science advances · 2022Article
- Article
- Mission Overview and Scientific Contributions from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover After Eight Years of Surface Operations.Space science reviews · 2022Review
- Characteristics, Origins, and Biosignature Preservation Potential of Carbonate-Bearing Rocks Within and Outside of Jezero Crater.Journal of geophysical research. Planets · 2021Article
- Article
- On Topological Analysis of fs-LIMS Data. Implications for in Situ Planetary Mass Spectrometry.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2021Article
- Aluminosilicate haloes preserve complex life approximately 800 million years ago.Interface focus · 2020Article
- Organic Matter Preservation in Ancient Soils of Earth and Mars.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- Factoring Origin of Life Hypotheses into the Search for Life in the Solar System and Beyond.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Review
- The Case for Ancient Hot Springs in Gusev Crater, Mars.Astrobiology · 2020Article
- Earth's earliest and deepest purported fossils may be iron-mineralized chemical gardens.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Paleo-Rock-Hosted Life on Earth and the Search on Mars: A Review and Strategy for Exploration.Astrobiology · 2019Review
- Review
- A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars.Journal of geophysical research. Planets · 2018Review
- Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Martian surface is cold, dry, exposed to biologically harmful radiation and apparently barren today. Nevertheless, there is clear geological evidence for warmer, wetter intervals in the past that could have supported life at or near the surface. This evidence has motivated National Aeronautics and Space Administration and European Space Agency to prioritize the search for any remains or traces of organisms from early Mars in forthcoming missions. Informed by (1) stratigraphic, mineralogical and geochemical data collected by previous and current missions, (2) Earth's fossil record, and (3) experimental studies of organic decay and preservation, we here consider whether, how, and where fossils and isotopic biosignatures could have been preserved in the depositional environments and mineralizing media thought to have been present in habitable settings on early Mars. We conclude that Noachian-Hesperian Fe-bearing clay-rich fluvio-lacustrine siliciclastic deposits, especially where enriched in silica, currently represent the most promising and best understood astropaleontological targets. Siliceous sinters would also be an excellent target, but their presence on Mars awaits confirmation. More work is needed to improve our understanding of fossil preservation in the context of other environments specific to Mars, particularly within evaporative salts and pore/fracture-filling subsurface minerals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.