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Key Findings In Mars Rock Debate Still Points Toward Potential Past Life on Mars

University of Georgia
February 15, 1997
Contact: Chris Romanek
Phone: 803/725-8157
romanek@srel.edu

Key Finding In Mars-Rock Debate Still Points Toward Potential Past
Life On The Red Planet, Says University Of Georgia Scientist

ATHENS, Ga. -- Last August, a group of scientists stunned the
scientific world with evidence that life may have once existed on
Mars. Their analysis of a Martian meterorite concluded that
microscopic life may have been the source of "apparent" fossils it
held.

In the six months since then, several studies have questioned
their interpretations, and recently some in the media have used
words from "doubt" to "death knell" to describe the Mars-life
theory. In a speech today at the annual meeting of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science in Seattle, however, a
key researcher of the original project called dismissals of the
claims entirely premature.

"It's time to pry the lid off the coffin, as our interpretations
are still very much alive and doing well," said Dr. Christopher
Romanek, now of the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology
Laboratory in Aiken, S.C. "We had nine people working on the
project for three years, and just since our press conference,
researchers have had to formulate and design tests, perform
experiments and interpret and publish the results in an amazingly
short time frame.

"While these works are admirable on these grounds alone, they do
not provide the information required to resolve the current
contamination and formation temperature issues we face. And yet
some of the press cling to reports that ring the `death knell' for
potential Martian life. Nothing could be further from the truth."

Forthcoming papers soon to be published will show why the original
Red Planet researchers are not red faced, Romanek said. At center
stage of the controversy is a Martian meteorite, known as Alan
Hills 84001, which was found in Antarctica about 13 years ago. It
formed on Mars 4.5 billion years ago and, according to the
researchers' paper published in Science last August, came in
contact with liquid water between 3.6 billion and 4 billion years
ago. From the water sprouted mineral deposits that bear a striking
resemblance to fossilized bacteria.The researchers believe that
about 16 million years ago, a comet or asteroid struck the Martian
surface and blasted pieces of the rock into space, where they
drifted for millions of years. The meteorite, found in Antarctica
in 1984, fell to Earth about 13,000 years ago.

Two years earlier before the idea of Martian life ever crossed his
mind, Romanek (and others) determined the Martian origin for
mineral deposits or carbonate "globules" in the meteorite and
determined the globules formed at a temperature capable of
sustaining life. This information is crucial because extremely
high formation temperatures rule out the possibility of life.
Romanek has been convinced all along that the carbonate globules
formed at low temperatures.

"In my opinion, it is clear the globules formed at low
temperatures -- perhaps not as low as 0 to 80 degrees centigrade
(as originally estimated), but surely not at the plus-or-minus 650
degrees centigrade, as suggested in one theory," said Romanek.

Romanek said that other papers, which focus on individual aspects
of the NASA team's Science paper, fail to take into account all
features in the carbonate globules collectively.

Romanek does not discount the possibility that future studies
could provide a convincing alternative explanation for the
formations found inside the meterorite, but for now, he believes
the original conclusions of the study still offer the best
explanations.

"We are completely open to new ideas and tests that will resolve
the issues at hand, but these ideas need to be fully explored
before informing the public," said Romanek. "I think we can
resolve the issues of formation temperature and contamination
soon, and we should do so with all expediency. If it turns out
that either issue precludes a biologic origin for the features we
found, we can move on to the many other exciting opportunities
that our research has provided concerning processes on the surface
of Mars."

(Editors/writers: While at the meeting of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science in Seattle, Dr. Romanek will be
staying at the Crowne Plaza in Seattle. The number there is
206/464-1980. If you leave a number, he will return your call.
After Feb. 18, he can be reached at the Savannah River Ecology
Lab, 804/725-8157.)


[URL of the article is
http://www.eurekalert.org/E-lert/current/public_releases/deposit/Georgia-mars.html]