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Growth Of Methanogens On Kaolinite, A Clay That Has Been Identified On Mars, Hailey Littrell
Growth Of Methanogens On Kaolinite, A Clay That Has Been Identified On Mars, Hailey Littrell
Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses
Methanogens have been studied as a model for life on Mars for 28 years now in the Kral lab. The discovery of methane in the Martian atmosphere by ground-based and orbital observations as well as Curiosity Rover (Formisano, V. et al., Krasnopolsky, V.A. et al., Mumma, M.J. et al.) has added relevance to these types of studies. Methanogens were chosen due to their ability to live in harsh environments, very similar to the Martian terrain. In addition to methane in the atmosphere, phyllosilicate clays have also been identified. One of those clays is kaolinite. Kaolinite has been found to not …