¹Arthur Goodwin, ²Christian Schröder, ²Emily Bonsall, ^1,3Russell J. Garwood, ¹Romain Tartèse
Earth and Planetary Science Letters 647, 119055 Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2024.119055]
¹Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PY, UK
²Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
³Natural History Museum, London, UK
Copyright Elsevier

The martian meteorite Northwest Africa (NWA) 11220 and paired stones (notably NWA 7034) are the only group of meteorites that sample a clastic near-surface lithology from Mars. The stones have been recognized as an impact-reworked lithology subjected to an impact-induced hydrothermal system — comparable to the postulated history of Jezero Crater, currently being explored by the NASA Perseverance rover. By applying Mössbauer spectroscopy in combination with several in situ analytical techniques including Raman spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, and NanoSIMS, we show that aliphatic carbon compounds dominate the inventory of insoluble indigenous carbon compounds within NWA 11220. Disordered carbon — present in ∼5 μm heterogeneous masses — is preferentially found within porosity where it adjoins the mineral surface of titano-magnetite. This relationship suggests catalytic surfaces have enabled Fischer–Tropsch (FT) synthesis of hydrocarbons. Our in situ micron-scale analytical study indicates that such methods can help determine the origin of organic material that exists in the near-surface martian regolith. Such multimodal approaches will be a key methodology for searching for traces of past life in future samples returned from Mars.