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The 1985 Antarctic Scientific Research Expedition to Lake Hoare in Taylor Valley is briefly described. Of particular interest to to the expedition is the nature of the lake's perennial ice cover and its role in concentrating dissolved gases. Also, the algal mats and sediment found on the bottom of the lake were studied. Antarctic lakes have been cited as possible analogs for possible biological habitats on Mars and on Europa.
Measurements of the natural abundances of carbon isotopes were made in acetate samples isolated from the anoxic marine sediment of Cape Lookout Bight, North Carolina. The typical value of the total acetate carbon isotope ratio (delta 13C) was -16.1 +/- 0.2 per mil. The methyl and carboxyl groups were determined to be -26.4 +/- 0.3 and -6.0 +/- 0.3 per mil, respectively, for one sample. The isotopic composition of the acetate is thought to have resulted from isotopic discriminations that occurred during the cycling of that molecule. Measurements of this type, which have not been made previously in the natural environment, may provide information about the dominant microbial pathways in anoxic sediments as well as the processes that influence the carbon isotopic composition of biogenic methane from many sources.
This grant supported our ongoing project to characterize the accretion rate of interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) to Earth over geologic time using He-3 as a tracer. IDPs are derived from collisions in the asteroid belt and from disaggregation of active comets. Owing to their small size (few to few hundred micrometers diameter) these particles spiral into the sun under Poynting-Robertson drag typically in less than a few tens of kyrs. Thus IDPs must be continually resupplied to the zodiacal cloud, and because the processes of IDP production are likely to be sporadic, time variation in the IDP accretion rate to Earth is likely to be time-varying. For example, major asteroidal collisions and comet showers should greatly enhance the IDP accretion rate. Our ultimate objective (still ongoing) is to document this time variance so as to better understand the history of the solar system, the source of IDPs accreting to Earth, and the details of the mechanism by which particles are captured by Earth. To document variations in IDP accretion rate through time we use He-3 as a tracer. This isotope is in extremely low abundance in terrestrial matter, but IDPs have very high concentrations of He-3 from implantation of solar wind ions. By measuring He-3 in seafloor sediments, we can estimate the IDP accretion rate for at least the last few hundred Myrs. Under an earlier NASA grant we identified the existence of a large increase in He-3 flux in the Late Eocene (35 Myr ago), coincident with the two largest impact craters of the Cenozoic Era. The simplest interpretation of this observation is the occurrence of a shower of long period comets at that time, simultaneously increasing the impact cratering probability and accretion rate of IDPs to Earth (Farley et al., 1998). Comet showers produced by stellar perturbation of the Oort cloud should be fairly common in the geologic record, so this is not an unreasonable interpretation of our observations.
Within the oldest highland units on Mars, the record of crater degradation indicates that fluvial resurfacing was responsible for modifying the Noachian through middle-Hesperian crater population. Based on crater frequency in the Noachian cratered terrain, age/elevation relations suggest that the highest exposures of Noachian dissected and plateau units became stabilized first, followed by successively lower units. In addition, studies of drainage networks indicate that the frequency of Noachian channels is greatest at high elevations. Together, these observations provide strong evidence of atmospheric involvement in volatile recycling. The long time period of crater modification also suggests that dendritic highland drainage was not simply the result of sapping by release of juvenile water, because the varied geologic units as well as the elevation dependence of stability ages makes it unlikely that subsurface recycling could provide a continuous supply of water for channel formation by sapping. While such geomorphic constraints on volatile history have been established by crater counts and stratigraphic relations using the 1:2M photomosaic series, photogeologic age relationships at the detailed level are needed to establish a specific chronology of erosion and sedimentation. Age relations for discrete erosional slopes and depositional basins will help refine ages of fluvial degradation, assess effectiveness of aeolian processes, and provide a regional chronology of fluvial events.
The use of ERTS imagery for water resources planning in the lower Mekong Basin relates to three major issues: (1) it complements data from areas, which have been inaccessible in the past because of security; this concerns mainly forest cover of the watersheds, and geological features, (2) it refines ground surveys; this concerns mainly land forms, and soils of existing and planned irrigation perimeters, and (3) it provides new information, which would be almost or entirely impossible to detect with ground surveys or conventional photography; this concerns the mechanism of flooding and drainage of the delta; siltation of the Great Lake and mapping of acidity, possibly also of salinity, in the lower delta; sedimentation and fisheries in the Mekong Delta estuarine areas.
Mud volcanoes are mounds formed by low temperature slurries of gas, liquid, sediments and rock that erupt to the surface from depths of meters to kilometers. They are common on Earth, with estimates of thousands onshore and tens of thousands offshore. Mud volcanoes occur in basins with rapidly-deposited accumulations of fine-grained sediments. Such settings are ideal for concentration and preservation of organic materials, and mud volcanoes typically occur in sedimentary basins that are rich in organic biosignatures. Domes and cones, cited as possible mud volcanoes by previous authors, are common on the northern plains of Mars. Our analysis of selected regions in southern Acidalia Planitia has revealed over 18,000 such features, and we estimate that more than 40,000 occur across the area. These domes and cones strongly resemble terrestrial mud volcanoes in size, shape, morphology, associated flow structures and geologic setting. Geologic and mineralogic arguments rule out alternative formation mechanisms involving lava, ice and impacts. We are studying terrestrial mud volcanoes from onshore and submarine locations. The largest concentration of onshore features is in Azerbaijan, near the western edge of the Caspian Sea. These features are typically hundreds of meters to several kilometers in diameter, and tens to hundreds of meters in height. Satellite images show spatial densities of 20 to 40 eruptive centers per 1000 square km. Many of the features remain active, and fresh mud flows as long as several kilometers are common. A large field of submarine mud volcanoes is located in the Gulf of Cadiz, off the Atlantic coasts of Morocco and Spain. High-resolution sonar bathymetry reveals numerous km-scale mud volcanoes, hundreds of meters in height. Seismic profiles demonstrate that the mud erupts from depths of several hundred meters. These submarine mud volcanoes are the closest morphologic analogs yet found to the features in Acidalia Planitia. We are also conducting laboratory analyses of surface samples collected from mud volcanoes in Azerbaijan, Taiwan and Japan. X-ray diffraction, visible / near infrared reflectance spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy show that the samples are dominated by mixed-layer smectite clays, along with quartz, calcite and pyrite. Thin section analysis by optical and scanning electron microscopy confirms the mineral identifications. These samples also contain chemical and morphological biosignatures, including common microfossils, with evidence of partial replacement by pyrite. The bulk samples contain approximately 1 wt% total organic carbon and 0.4 mg / gm volatile hydrocarbons. The thousands of features in Acidalia Planitia cited as analogous to terrestrial mud volcanoes clearly represent an important element in the sedimentary record of Mars. Their location, in the distal depocenter for massive Hesperian-age floods, suggests that they contain fine-grained sediments from a large catchment area in the martian highlands. We have proposed these features as a new class of exploration target that can provide access to minimally-altered material from significant depth. By analogy to terrestrial mud volcanoes, these features may also be excellent sites for the sampling martian organics and subsurface microbial life, if such exist or ever existed.
There are no large-scale sedimentation and erosion processes on Venus, therefore the observed deformation must be formed on the surface or close to it, and in the ellipsoids of stresses one of the main axes must be perpendicular to the surface. According to the deformation visible on photography from Venera-15, 16, the orientations of the ellipsoids of stresses are established in the different sections of the Montes Maxwell and the northern parquet. A geological model is established, according to which the Montes Maxwell is an arched vault and the region to the south a conjugate bend, separated by a shift zone.
The upper part of the New Albany Shale is divided into three members. In ascending order, these are (1) the Morgan Trail Member, a laminated brownish-black shale; (2) the Camp Run Member, an interbedded brownish-black and greenish-gray shale; and (3) the Clegg Creek Member, also a laminated brownish-black shale. The Morgan Trail and Camp Run Members contain 5% to 6% total organic carbon (TOC) and 2% sulfide sulfur. Isotopic composition of sulfide in these members ranges from -5.0% to -20.0%. C/S plots indicate linear relationships between abundances of these elements, with a zero intercept characteristic of sediments deposited in a non-euxinic marine environment. Formation of diagenetic pyrite was carbon limited in these members. The Clegg Creek Member contains 10% to 15% TOC and 2% to 6% sulfide sulfur. Isotopic compositions of sulfide range from -5.0% to -40%. The most negative values occur in the uppermost Clegg Creek Member and are characteristic of syngenetic pyrite, formed within an anoxic water column. Abundances of carbon and sulfur are greater and uncorrelated in this member, consistent with deposition in as euxinic environment. In addition, DOP (degree of pyritization) values suggest that formation of pyrite was generally iron limited throughout Clegg Creek deposition, but sulfur isotopes indicate that syngenetic (water-column) pyrite becomes an important component in the sediment only in the upper part of the member. At the top of the Clegg Creek Member, a zone of phosphate nodules and trace-metal enrichment coincides with maximal TOC values. During euxinic deposition, phosphate and trace metals accumulated below the chemocline because of limited vertical circulation in the water column. Increased productivity would have resulted in an increased flux of particulate organic matter to the sediment, providing an effective sink for trace metals in the water column. Phosphate and trace metals released from organic matter during early diagenesis resulted in precipitation of metal-rich phosphate nodules.
Abundant evidence exists for lakes on Mars both from orbital observations [e.g., 1-3] and in situ exploration [e.g., 4-5]. These lakes can be divided into two classes: those that were hydrologically closed, so their source valley(s) terminated at the basin [3], and those that were hydrologically open, where there was sufficient flow from inlet valley(s) to cause the lake to breach and form an outlet valley [2]. It is easier to be confident from orbital data alone that a standing body of water must have existed in open basins, because there is no other way for their perched outlet valleys to form. The majority of basins fed by valley networks, rather than by isolated inlet valleys, are open [6], with some important exceptions (e.g., Gale Crater). Jezero crater (Fig. 1) is one of the most well-studied open basin paleolakes on Mars, with a breach that re-mains well above the lowest part of the crater floor, and two sedimentary fans at its northwestern margin that are likely deltaic in origin [7-9]. CRISM observations of these sediments indicate they host a variety of alteration minerals [9-11], including smectite and carbonate, and both the mineralogy of the sediments and their settings suggest they have a strong potential for preserving organic materials [10]. As a result, Jezero is a strong candidate landing site for the Mars 2020 rover. Approximate formative discharges have been estimated for its well-preserved western fan (Q approximately 500m3/s) [7], but to our knowledge, no estimates for the dis-charges associated with formation and incision of its outlet valley have been presented. Indeed, only a few studies [e.g., 12-14] have attempted to reconstruct the formation of outlet breaches broadly similar to Jezero anywhere on Mars, despite the apparent commonality of basins with large outlets [e.g., 2]. The outlet valley formed as a dam breach when the lake overflowed. In such an event, the growth and incision of the breach is directly coupled to flood discharge. In the case of Jezero, the discharge through the breach eventually lacked the energy needed to erode through the dam further, preventing complete drainage of the lake. After the initial flood, further incision can take place if additional water flows into, and thus out of, the hydrologically open lake, though the rate of this erosion occurs under more typical fluvial conditions. Despite this qualitative understanding of the process, it is useful to explore numerically what range of model parameters are potentially consistent with obser-vations of the outlet. We ultimately seek to address questions that include: (1) What was the flood hydro-graph?, (2) What sediment transport processes were involved and what can we infer about the erosion process? (3) Can most or all of the Jezero outlet's morphology be explained as a consequence of catastrophic formation, or is additional longer-term erosion required?
The geology and geomorphology of Mars provide clear evidence for the presence of liquid water on its surface during the Noachian and Hesperien eras (i.e., >3 Ga). In contrast to the ancient watery environment, today the surface of Mars is relatively dry. The current desert-like surface conditions, however, do not necessarily indicate a lack of surface or near-surface water/ice. In fact, massive deposits of ground ice and/or icy sediments have been proposed based on subsurface radar sounder observations. Hence, accurate knowledge of both the evolution of the distribution of water and of the global water inventory is crucial to our understanding of the evolution of the climate and near-surface environments and the potential habitability of Mars. This study presents insights from hydrogen isotopes for the interactive evolution of Martian water reservoirs. In particular, based on our new measurement of the D/H ratio of 4 Ga-old Noachian water, we constrain the atmospheric loss and possible exchange of surface and subsurface water through time.
Despite the wealth of geochemical data for subduction-related magma types, and the clear importance of such magmas in the creation of continental crust, there is still no concensus about the relative magnitudes of crustal creation versus crustal destruction (i.e., recycling of crust into the mantle). The role of subducted sediment in the formation of the arc magmas is now well documented; but what proportion of sediment is taken into the deeper mantle? Integrated isotopic and trace element studies of magmas erupted far from presently active subduction zones, in particular basaltic rocks erupted in the ocean basins, are providing important information about the role of crustal recycling. By identifying potential chemical tracers, it is impossible to monitor the effects of crustal recycling, and produce models predicting the mass of material recycled into the mantle throughout long periods of geological time.
The South Pass granite-greenstone terrain lies near the southern tip of the Wind River Mountains of western Wyoming. This Archean supracrustal pile has been Wyoming's most prolific source of gold and iron ore. From 1962 to 1983, more than 90 million tons of iron ore were recovered from oxide-facies banded iron formation, and an estimated 325,000 ounces of gold were mined from metagreywacke-hosted shears and associated placers. Precambrian rocks at South Pass are unconformably overlain by Paleozoic sediments along the northeast flank, and a Tertiary pediment buries Archean supracrustals on the west and south. To the northwest, the supracrustals terminate against granodiorite of the Louis Lake batholith; to the east, the supracrustals terminate against granite of the Granite Mountains batholith. The Louis Lake granodiorite is approximately 2,630 + or - 20 m.y. old, and the Granite Mountains granite averages 2,600 m.y. old. The geometry of the greenstone belt is best expressed as a synform that has been modified by complex faulting and folding. Metamorphism is amphibolite grade surrounding a small island of greenschist facies rocks. The younger of the Archean supracrustal successions is the Miners Delight Formation. This unit yielded a Rb-Sr isochron of 2,800 m.y. A sample of galena from the Snowbird Mine within the Miners Delight Formation yielded a model age averaging 2,750 m.y. The Snowbird mineralization appears to be syngenetic and is hosted by metavolcanics of calc-alkaline affinity. Discussion follows.
The authors present two scenarios for the temperature history of Earth. One scenario is conventional, the other relies on a warmer history. Both scenarios include surface cooling determined by the evolution of the biosphere and are similar until the Proterozoic period. The warmer scenario requires a higher plant/lichen terrestrial biota to increase weathering intensity. Justification for a warmer surface includes period temperatures from the oxygen isotope record of coexisting phosphates and cherts, an upper limit of 58 degrees C from primary gypsum precipitation, and the lack of fractionation of sulfur isotopes between sulfide and sulfates in Archean sediments.
The distribution of small channels on Mars has been mapped from Mariner 9 images at the 1:5,000,000 scale. The small channels referred to here are small valleys ranging in width from the resolution limit of the Mariner 9 wide-angle images (about 1 km) to about 10 km. The greatest density of small channels occurs in dark cratered terrain. This dark zone forms a broad subequatorial band around the planet. The observed distribution may be the result of decreased small-channel visibility in bright areas due to obscuration by a high albedo dust or sediment mantle. Crater densities within two small-channel segments show crater size-frequency distributions consistent with those of the oldest of the heavily cratered plains units. Such crater densities coupled with the almost exclusive occurrence of small channels in old cratered terrain and the generally degraded appearance of small channels in the high-resolution images (about 100 m) imply a major episode of small-channel formation early in Martian geologic history.
Sessions with oral presentations include: A SPECIAL SESSION: MESSENGER at Mercury, Mars: Pingos, Polygons, and Other Puzzles, Solar Wind and Genesis: Measurements and Interpretation, Asteroids, Comets, and Small Bodies, Mars: Ice On the Ground and In the Ground, SPECIAL SESSION: Results from Kaguya (SELENE) Mission to the Moon, Outer Planet Satellites: Not Titan, Not Enceladus, SPECIAL SESSION: Lunar Science: Past, Present, and Future, Mars: North Pole, South Pole - Structure and Evolution, Refractory Inclusions, Impact Events: Modeling, Experiments, and Observations, Mars Sedimentary Processes from Victoria Crater to the Columbia Hills, Formation and Alteration of Carbonaceous Chondrites, New Achondrite GRA 06128/GRA 06129 - Origins Unknown, The Science Behind Lunar Missions, Mars Volcanics and Tectonics, From Dust to Planets (Planetary Formation and Planetesimals):When, Where, and Kaboom! Astrobiology: Biosignatures, Impacts, Habitability, Excavating a Comet, Mars Interior Dynamics to Exterior Impacts, Achondrites, Lunar Remote Sensing, Mars Aeolian Processes and Gully Formation Mechanisms, Solar Nebula Shake and Bake: Mixing and Isotopes, Lunar Geophysics, Meteorites from Mars: Shergottite and Nakhlite Invasion, Mars Fluvial Geomorphology, Chondrules and Chondrule Formation, Lunar Samples: Chronology, Geochemistry, and Petrology, Enceladus, Venus: Resurfacing and Topography (with Pancakes!), Overview of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Mission, Mars Sulfates, Phyllosilicates, and Their Aqueous Sources, Ordinary and Enstatite Chondrites, Impact Calibration and Effects, Comparative Planetology, Analogs: Environments and Materials, Mars: The Orbital View of Sediments and Aqueous Mineralogy, Planetary Differentiation, Titan, Presolar Grains: Still More Isotopes Out of This World, Poster sessions include: Education and Public Outreach Programs, Early Solar System and Planet Formation, Solar Wind and Genesis, Asteroids, Comets, and Small Bodies, Carbonaceous Chondrites, Chondrules and Chondrule Formation, Chondrites, Refractory Inclusions, Organics in Chondrites, Meteorites: Techniques, Experiments, and Physical Properties, MESSENGER and Mercury, Lunar Science Present: Kaguya (SELENE) Results, Lunar Remote Sensing: Basins and Mapping of Geology and Geochemistry, Lunar Science: Dust and Ice, Lunar Science: Missions and Planning, Mars: Layered, Icy, and Polygonal, Mars Stratigraphy and Sedimentology, Mars (Peri)Glacial, Mars Polar (and Vast), Mars, You are Here: Landing Sites and Imagery, Mars Volcanics and Magmas, Mars Atmosphere, Impact Events: Modeling, Experiments, and Observation, Ice is Nice: Mostly Outer Planet Satellites, Galilean Satellites, The Big Giant Planets, Astrobiology, In Situ Instrumentation, Rocket Scientist's Toolbox: Mission Science and Operations, Spacecraft Missions, Presolar Grains, Micrometeorites, Condensation-Evaporation: Stardust Ties, Comet Dust, Comparative Planetology, Planetary Differentiation, Lunar Meteorites, Nonchondritic Meteorites, Martian Meteorites, Apollo Samples and Lunar Interior, Lunar Geophysics, Lunar Science: Geophysics, Surface Science, and Extralunar Components, Mars, Remotely, Mars Orbital Data - Methods and Interpretation, Mars Tectonics and Dynamics, Mars Craters: Tiny to Humongous, Mars Sedimentary Mineralogy, Martian Gullies and Slope Streaks, Mars Fluvial Geomorphology, Mars Aeolian Processes, Mars Data and Mission,s Venus Mapping, Modeling, and Data Analysis, Titan, Icy Dwarf Satellites, Rocket Scientist's Toolbox: In Situ Analysis, Remote Sensing Approaches, Advances, and Applications, Analogs: Sulfates - Earth and Lab to Mars, Analogs: Remote Sensing and Spectroscopy, Analogs: Methods and Instruments, Analogs: Weird Places!. Print Only Early Solar System, Solar Wind, IDPs, Presolar/Solar Grains, Stardust, Comets, Asteroids, and Phobos, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Meteorites, Mars, Astrobiology, Impacts, Outer Planets, Satellites, and Rings, Support for Mission Operations, Analog Education and Public Outreach.
Compilations have been made of sulfate reduction rates and oxic respiration rates over the entire range of marine sedimentation rates, and sedimentary environments, including several euxinic sites. These data show, consistent with the findings of Jorgensen (1982, Nature, 296, 643-645), that sulfate reduction and oxic respiration oxidize equal amounts of organic carbon in nearshore sediments. As sedimentation rates decrease, oxic respiration, becomes progressively more important, and in deep-sea sediments 100-1000 times more organic carbon is oxidized by oxic respiration than by sulfate reduction. By contrast, nearly as much organic carbon is oxidized by sulfate reduction in euxinic sediments as is oxidized by the sum of sulfate reduction and oxic respiration in normal marine sediments of similar deposition rate. This observation appears at odds with the enhanced preservation of organic carbon observed in euxinic sediments. However, only small reductions in (depth-integrated) organic carbon decomposition rates (compared to normal marine) are required to give both high organic carbon concentrations and enhanced carbon preservation in euxinic sediments. Lower rates of organic carbon decomposition (if only by subtle amounts) are explained by the diminished ability of anaerobic bacteria to oxidize the full suite of sedimentary organic compounds.
Sm/Nd isotopic constraints on crustal growth is discussed. In order to constrain Sm/Nd fractionation between continental crust and depleted mantle, an extensive data base of isotopic measurements (assumed to be adequately representative of continental crust) was compiled. The results imply that the evolution of depleted mantles was roughly linear, with no major discontinuities over the course of geologic time. This is different from other determinations of depleting mantle evolution, which show nonlinear behavior. The Sm/Nd evolution lines for continental crust and depleted mantle intersect between 3.8 to 4.0 Ga, which may indicate that the onset of continental growth was later than 4.5 Ga. A mathematical model is described, the results of which imply that time integrated crustal additions from the mantle are about 1.8 to 2.5 cu km/a, whereas crustal subtractions by sediment recycling are about 0.6 to 1.5 cu km/a. This results in a net time integrated crustal growth rate of about 1 cu km/a, which is similar to present day rates determined, for example, by Reymer and Schubert.
Recognition of the earliest morphological or chemical evidence of terrestrial life has proved to be challenging, as organic matter in ancient rocks is commonly fragmentary and difficult to distinguish from abiotically-produced materials (Schopf, 1993; Van Zuilen et al., 2002; Altermann & Kazmierczak, 2003; Cady et al., 2003; Brasier et al., 2002, 2004, 2005; Hofmann, 2004; Skrzypczak et al., 2004, 2005). Yet, the ability to identify remnants of earliest life is critical to our understanding of the timing of life's origin on earth, the nature of earliest terrestrial life, and recognition of potential remnants of microbial life that might occur in extraterrestrial materials. The search for earliest life on Earth now extends to early Archean organic remains; these tend to be very poorly preserved and considerably more difficult to interpret than the delicately permineralized microfossils known from many Proterozoic deposits. Thus, recent efforts have been directed toward finding biosignatures that can help distinguish fragmentary remnants of ancient microbes from either pseudofossils or abiotic organic materials that may have formed hydrothermally or in extraterrestrial processes (House et al., 2000; Boyce et al., 2001; Kudryavtsev et al., 2001; Schopf, 2002; Schopf et al., 2002, 2005a,b; Cady et al., 2003; Garc a-Ruiz et al., 2003; Hofmann, 2004; Brasier et al., 2005; Rushdi and Simoneit, 2005; Skrzypczak et al., 2005). An exciting area of biosignature research involves the developing technology of NanoSIMS. NanoSIMS is secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) for ultrafine feature, elemental and isotopic analysis. Its resolution approaches 0.05 micrometers for element mapping, which is 10-50 times finer than that attainable with conventional SIMS or electron microprobes. Consequently, NanoSIMS has the potential to reveal previously unknown, chemical and structural characteristics of organic matter preserved in geologic materials. Robert et al. (2005) were the first to combine NanoSIMS element maps with optical microscopic imagery in an effort to develop a new method for assessing biogenicity. They showed that the ability to simultaneously map the distribution of organic elements [such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S)] and compare those element distributions with optically recognizable, cellularly preserved fossils could provide significant new insights into the origin of organic materials in ancient sediments. This chapter details a recent NanoSIMS study which was designed to acquire new data relevant to establishing critical biosignatures (Oehler et al., 2006a-c). In this study, NanoSIMS was used to characterize element distributions of spheroidal and filamentous microfossils and associated organic laminae in chert from the approx. 0.85 billion year old (Ga) Bitter Springs Formation of Australia. Previous work established preservation of a diverse microbiota in the Bitter Springs Formation (Schopf, 1968; Schopf and Blacic, 1971), and there is no dispute within the scientific community regarding the biogenicity of any of the Bitter Springs structures evaluated in this new study. Thus, the NanoSIMS results described below provide new insight into - and can be used as a guide for assessing - the origin of less well understood organic materials that may occur in early Archean samples and in meteorites or other extraterrestrial samples.