ORCID Profile
0000-0001-8589-2041
Current Organisation
The University of Edinburgh
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-03-2023
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-023-37070-2
Abstract: Finding sustainable approaches to achieve independence from terrestrial resources is of pivotal importance for the future of space exploration. This is relevant not only to establish viable space exploration beyond low Earth–orbit, but also for ethical considerations associated with the generation of space waste and the preservation of extra-terrestrial environments. Here we propose and highlight a series of microbial biotechnologies uniquely suited to establish sustainable processes for in situ resource utilization and loop-closure. Microbial biotechnologies research and development for space sustainability will be translatable to Earth applications, tackling terrestrial environmental issues, thereby supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2013
Publisher: Geological Society of London
Date: 30-11-2016
DOI: 10.1144/SP448.15
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 13-11-2013
DOI: 10.1017/S1473550413000384
Abstract: The quantity of methane in Mars' atmosphere, and the potential mechanism(s) responsible for its production, are still unknown. In order to test viable, abiotic, methangenic processes, we experimentally investigated two possible impact mechanisms for generating methane. In the first suite of experiments, basaltic rocks were impacted at 5 km s −1 and the quantity of gases (CH 4 , H 2 , He, N 2 , O 2 , Ar and CO 2 ) released by the impacts was measured. In the second suite of experiments, a mixture of water ice, CO 2 ice and anhydrous olivine grains was impacted to see if the shock induced rapid serpentinization of the olivine, and thus production of methane. The results of both suites of experiments demonstrate that impacts (at scales achievable in the laboratory) do not give rise to detectably enhanced quantities of methane release above background levels. Supporting hydrocode modelling was also performed to gain insight into the pressures and temperatures occurring during the impact events.
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 05-2018
DOI: 10.1029/2017JE005478
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.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-05-2021
DOI: 10.1111/GBI.12445
Abstract: The search for a fossil record of Earth's deep biosphere, partly motivated by potential analogies with subsurface habitats on Mars, has uncovered numerous assemblages of inorganic microfilaments and tubules inside ancient pores and fractures. Although these enigmatic objects are morphologically similar to mineralized microorganisms (and some contain organic carbon), they also resemble some abiotic structures. Palaeobiologists have responded to this ambiguity by evaluating problematic filaments against checklists of “biogenicity criteria”. Here, we describe material that tests the limits of this approach. We s led Jurassic calcite veins formed through subseafloor serpentinization, a water–rock reaction that can fuel the deep biosphere and is known to have occurred widely on Mars. At two localities ~4 km apart, veins contained curving, branched microfilaments composed of Mg‐silicate and Fe‐oxide minerals. Using a wide range of analytical techniques including synchrotron X‐ray microtomography and scanning transmission electron microscopy, we show that these features meet many published criteria for biogenicity and are comparable to fossilized cryptoendolithic fungi or bacteria. However, we argue that abiotic processes driven by serpentinization could account for the same set of lifelike features, and report a chemical garden experiment that supports this view. These filaments are, therefore, most objectively described as dubiofossils, a designation we here defend from criticism and recommend over alternative approaches, but which nevertheless signifies an impasse. Similar impasses can be anticipated in the future exploration of subsurface palaeo‐habitats on Earth and Mars. To avoid them, further studies are required in biomimetic geochemical self‐organization, microbial taphonomy and micro‐analytical techniques, with a focus on subsurface habitats.
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 09-2011
Abstract: The context for the emergence of life on Earth sometime prior to 3.5 billion years ago is almost as big a puzzle as the definition of life itself. Hitherto, the problem has largely been addressed in terms of theoretical and experimental chemistry plus evidence from extremophile habitats like modern hydrothermal vents and meteorite impact structures. Here, we argue that extensive rafts of glassy, porous, and gas-rich pumice could have had a significant role in the origin of life and provided an important habitat for the earliest communities of microorganisms. This is because pumice has four remarkable properties. First, during eruption it develops the highest surface-area-to-volume ratio known for any rock type. Second, it is the only known rock type that floats as rafts at the air-water interface and then becomes beached in the tidal zone for long periods of time. Third, it is exposed to an unusually wide variety of conditions, including dehydration. Finally, from rafting to burial, it has a remarkable ability to adsorb metals, organics, and phosphates as well as to host organic catalysts such as zeolites and titanium oxides. These remarkable properties now deserve to be rigorously explored in the laboratory and the early rock record.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Sean McMahon.