ArticleScientific reports2020
Inhabited subsurface wet smectites in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert as an analog for the search for life on Mars.
Article in Scientific reports, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- Airborne Halophilic and Non-Halophilic Microbial Communities in an Underground Salt Mine Affected by Seasonal Environmental Fluctuations.Environmental microbiology reports · 2026Article
- Rock surfaces as reservoirs for airborne halophilic microorganisms in the Bochnia Salt Mine.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Intracranial volume variation in Chinchorro mummies: a comparative study with pre-hispanic farmers and contemporary Chilean populations.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Plant species-specific rhizobiome assembly in the hyper-arid Atacama Desert.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Adaptation of the Endolithic Biome in Antarctic Volcanic Rocks.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Article
- 'Follow the Water': Microbial Water Acquisition in Desert Soils.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- An Overview of Lipid Biomarkers in Terrestrial Extreme Environments with Relevance for Mars Exploration.Astrobiology · 2023Review
- Dark microbiome and extremely low organics in Atacama fossil delta unveil Mars life detection limits.Nature communications · 2023Article
- "Freezing" Thermophiles: From One Temperature Extreme to Another.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Fundamental Science and Engineering Questions in Planetary Cave Exploration.Journal of geophysical research. Planets · 2022Review
- Different characteristics of microbial diversity and special functional microbes in rainwater and topsoil before and after 2019 new coronavirus epidemic in Inner Mongolia Grassland.The Science of the total environment · 2022Article
- Microbial Hotspots in Lithic Microhabitats Inferred from DNA Fractionation and Metagenomics in the Atacama Desert.Microorganisms · 2021Article
- Influence of Physical-Chemical Soil Parameters on Microbiota Composition and Diversity in a Deep Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The modern Martian surface is unlikely to be habitable due to its extreme aridity among other environmental factors. This is the reason why the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert has been studied as an analog for the habitability of Mars for more than 50 years. Here we report a layer enriched in smectites located just 30 cm below the surface of the hyperarid core of the Atacama. We discovered the clay-rich layer to be wet (a phenomenon never observed before in this region), keeping a high and constant relative humidity of 78% (a
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