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27 -- Methane and Life?
THURSDAY, April 17, 2008: MORNING
Tom McCollom
Univeristy of Colorado
Boulder, CO, USA
Craig, Manning
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Description
In recent years, astrobiologists have invoked methane as a greenhouse gas to heat the early atmospheres of the terrestrial planets, and as a potential biosignature for ancient life on Earth and extant life on Mars. Methane is also central to many chemosynthetic microbial communities, both as a source of energy and metabolic product. These topics have engendered considerable discussion and debate over possible sources of methane, and methods to differentiate between abiotic and biotic sources. This session aims to bring together scientists with an interest in these and other methane-related topics. Contributions concerning all aspects of methane and its astrobiological implications are encouraged, including (but not limited to!) sources of methane on the early Earth and Mars (e.g., serpentinization, biological methanogenesis), the contribution of methane to atmospheric warming in the early solar system, methane as a potential biosignature, methods to differentiate between biotic and abiotic sources, detection of methane on Mars and its implications for life, and methane in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Contributions from field studies, laboratory simulations, remote-sensing observations, and theoretical approaches are all welcome, and wild speculation may even be tolerated.
ORAL SESSION
9:45 27-17-O. Production of Isotopically Heavy Biogenic Methane at High Pressures
and Temperatures K. Takai, K. Nakamura, T. Toki, U. Tsunogai
10:00 27-03-O. Biological Methane Cycling at the Lost City Hydrothermal Field
W.J. Brazelton, J.A. Baross
10:15 27-13-O. Carbon Isotope Fractionation Associated with Abiogenic Production
of CH4: When Abiogenic Reduced Carbon can be a Biological Look-alike
P. Morrill, D.S. Weinberger, B. Sherwood Lollar, M.L. Fogel, G.D. Cody
10:30 27-10-O. Chromite Catalysis of Abiotic Methanogenesis During Komatiite
Alteration: Implications for Atmospheric Methane on the early Earth
C. Lazar, T.M. McCollom, C.E. Manning
10:45 27-14-O. Methane and Life?: Constraints From Higher Hydrocarbon Gases and
Associated Trace Gases B. Sherwood Lollar, K.M. Voglesonger,G. Lacrampe-Couloume,
G.F. Slater, T.M. McCollom
11:00 27-07-O. A Revised, Hazy Methane Greenhouse for the Archean Earth
J. Haqq-Misra, S. Domagal-Goldman, P. Kasting, J. Kasting
11:15 27-05-O. First Results from a Time-Dependent 1D Early Earth Photochemical
Model M. Claire, D, Catling, K, Zahnle
11:30 27-16-O. Crystalline Shield Methane Under Permafrost
R. Stotler, S.K. Frape, I. Clark, L. Pratt, T. Ruskeeniemi
11:45 27-01-O. Microbial Reduction of Manganese and Iron as a Sink for Methane
and a Plausible Metabolism on Mars E. Beal, C. House
POSTERS
27-02-P. The Use of Isotopic Signatures of Methane to Evaluate Biogenicity in Mars
Analogue Environments on Earth B. Bebout. J.P. Chanton
27-04-P. Methane Production by Methanogens on Various Martian Crust Analogs
B. Chastain, T.Kral
27-06-P. Biogenic Methane on Titan? D. Grinspoon, D. Schulze-Makuch
27-08-P. Recent Advances in the Development of a Cavity-Ringdown Spectrometer for
Measurement of the Stable Isotopic Content of Martian Methane
J. Kessler, T. Onstott, K. Lehmann
27-09-P. Microbial Methanogenesis in Ancient Groundwaters in Witwatersrand Basin:
The Timing of Deep Subsurface Life G. Lacrampe–Couloume, E. van Heerden,
D.J. Opperman, A. Bester, J. Lippmann-Pipke, G.F. Slater, T.C. Onstott, B. Sherwood Lollar
27-11-P. Diversity of Methanogenic Archaea and Sulfate Reducing Bacteria in the
Sediments of a Constructed Wetland in Monterey County, CA
P. Matheus-Carnevali, S. Rech
27-12-P. Serpentinites and Methane Generation: An Overview of the Geological and
Experimental Evidence T. McCollom
27-15-P. Martian Deep Inner Habitable Zone V. Stamenkovic
27-18-P. An Extensive Search for Biomarker Gases in the Martian Atmosphere Using
Powerful Infrared Telescopes G. Villanueva, M. Mumma, R. Novak, T. Hewagama,
B.P. Bonev, M.A. DiSanti