1 Department of Geosciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho.
2 Mars Space Flight Facility, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
Astrobiology. 2019 Mar;19(3):260-283. doi: 10.1089/ast.2018.1847. Epub 2018 Oct 19.
Field research target regions within two basaltic geologic provinces are described as Earth analogs to Mars. Regions within the eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho and the Big Island of Hawai'i, the United States, provinces that represent analogs of present-day and early Mars, respectively, were evaluated on the basis of geologic settings, rock lithology and geochemistry, rock alteration, and climate. Each of these factors provides rationale for the selection of specific targets for field research in five analog target regions: (1) Big Craters and (2) Highway lava flows at Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve, Idaho, and (3) Mauna Ulu low shield, (4) Kīlauea Iki lava lake, and (5) Kīlauea caldera in the Kīlauea Volcano summit region and the East Rift Zone of Hawai'i. Our evaluation of compositional and textural attributes, as well as the effects of syn- and posteruptive rock alteration, shows that basaltic terrains in Idaho and Hawai'i provide a way to characterize the geology and major geologic substrates that host biological activity of relevance to Mars exploration. This work provides the foundation to better understand the scientific questions related to the habitability of basaltic terrains, the rationale behind selecting analog field targets, and their applicability as analogs to Mars.
描述了两个玄武岩地质省的野外研究目标区域，它们是火星的地球类似物。美国爱达荷州东部蛇河平原和夏威夷大岛分别代表了现代和早期火星的类似物，根据地质背景、岩石岩性和地球化学、岩石蚀变和气候对这些区域进行了评估。这些因素中的每一个都为在五个类似目标区域选择特定的野外研究目标提供了依据：（1）大火山口和（2）爱达荷州月球国家纪念碑和保护区的火山口公路熔岩流，以及（3）莫纳乌鲁低盾，（4）基拉韦厄伊基熔岩湖，以及（5）基拉韦厄火山口山顶地区和夏威夷东裂谷带的基拉韦厄火山口。我们对成分和结构属性的评估，以及同喷发期和后喷发期岩石蚀变的影响表明，爱达荷州和夏威夷的玄武岩地形为描述与火星探测相关的地质和主要地质基质中的生物活动提供了一种方法。这项工作为更好地理解与玄武岩地形的宜居性相关的科学问题、选择类似物野外目标的基本原理以及它们作为火星类似物的适用性提供了基础。
