Models for Silicate Fossils of Organic Materials in the Astrobiological Context

Chapter
Part of the Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology book series (COLE, volume 12)

Abstract

Silicates are abundant on both Earth and Mars, and hold great potential for harboring biosignatures. Biosignatures are signs of past or present life and may be either organic or inorganic in nature. Our most recent work, which we review here, is a survey of how different classes of organic compounds interact with highly basic sodium silicate solution to model the formation of biosignatures in nature. Our work focuses on using IR (infra-red) spectroscopy as a way to determine the mechanisms by which organics are preserved within silicates. Throughout the chapter, we cite relevant studies by others, while still maintaining the focus on the review of our own work. We ultimately summarize how various classes of organics interact with sodium silicate in terms of both physical and spectral properties and describe their astrobiological significance.

Keywords

Silicic Acid Sodium Silicate Sugar Alcohol Sodium Silicate Solution Amino Alcohol 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science + Business Media B.V 2009

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of ChemistryUniversity of Wisconsin-ParksideKenoshaUSA

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