近日，美国石溪大学Joel A. Hurowitz团队研究了火星耶泽洛陨石坑中氧化还原驱动的矿物和有机组合。2025年9月10日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

“毅力”号火星车在耶泽罗陨石坑内对火成岩和沉积岩进行了探测和采样，以表征火星早期的地质过程和可居住性，并寻找潜在的生物特征。在进入耶泽罗陨石坑西部边缘的内雷特瓦山谷后，“毅力号”调查了明亮天使地层的独特泥岩和砾岩露头。

研究组对这些岩石进行了详细的地质、岩石学和地球化学测量，发现“明亮天使组”含有机碳泥岩中含有亚毫米尺度的结核和毫米尺度的反应锋，富含铁磷铁矿和硫化物矿物，可能分别为辉绿岩和灰长岩。这种有机碳似乎参与了沉积后的氧化还原反应，产生了观察到的磷酸铁和硫化铁矿物。地质环境和岩石学表明这些反应发生在低温下。

在此背景下，研究组回顾了在实验室和地球上的自然环境中，涉及有机物的氧化还原反应可以产生所观察到的一系列含铁、含硫和含磷矿物的各种途径。最后，研究组得出结论，对从这个单元收集的岩心样本进行分析，使用地球上的高灵敏度仪器，将能够进行所需的测量，以确定其包含的矿物、有机物和结构的起源。

附：英文原文

Title: Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars

Author: Hurowitz, Joel A., Tice, M. M., Allwood, A. C., Cable, M. L., Hand, K. P., Murphy, A. E., Uckert, K., Bell, J. F., Bosak, T., Broz, A. P., Clav, E., Cousin, A., Davidoff, S., Dehouck, E., Farley, K. A., Gupta, S., Hamran, S.-E., Hickman-Lewis, K., Johnson, J. R., Jones, A. J., Jones, M. W. M., Jrgensen, P. S., Kah, L. C., Kalucha, H., Kizovski, T. V., Klevang, D. A., Liu, Y., McCubbin, F. M., Moreland, E. L., Paar, G., Paige, D. A., Pascuzzo, A. C., Rice, M. S., Schmidt, M. E., Siebach, K. L., Siljestrm, S., Simon, J. I., Stack, K. M., Steele, A., Tosca, N. J., Treiman, A. H., VanBommel, S. J., Wade, L. A., Weiss, B. P., Wiens, R. C., Williford, K. H., Barnes, R., Barr, P. A., Bechtold, A., Beck, P., Benzerara, K., Bernard, S., Beyssac, O., Bhartia, R., Brown, A. J., Caravaca, G., Cardarelli, E. L., Cloutis, E. A., Fairn, A. G., Flannery, D. T., Fornaro, T., Fouchet, T., Garczynski, B., Gomz, F., Hausrath, E. M., Heirwegh, C. M., Herd, C. D. K., Huggett, J. E., Jrgensen, J. L., Lee, S. W., Li, A. Y., Maki, J. N., Mandon, L., Mangold, N.

Issue&Volume: 2025-09-10

Abstract: The Perseverance rover has explored and sampled igneous and sedimentary rocks within Jezero Crater to characterize early Martian geological processes and habitability and search for potential biosignatures1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Upon entering Neretva Vallis, on Jezero Crater’s western edge8, Perseverance investigated distinctive mudstone and conglomerate outcrops of the Bright Angel formation. Here we report a detailed geological, petrographic and geochemical survey of these rocks and show that organic-carbon-bearing mudstones in the Bright Angel formation contain submillimetre-scale nodules and millimetre-scale reaction fronts enriched in ferrous iron phosphate and sulfide minerals, likely vivianite and greigite, respectively. This organic carbon appears to have participated in post-depositional redox reactions that produced the observed iron-phosphate and iron-sulfide minerals. Geological context and petrography indicate that these reactions occurred at low temperatures. Within this context, we review the various pathways by which redox reactions that involve organic matter can produce the observed suite of iron-, sulfur- and phosphorus-bearing minerals in laboratory and natural environments on Earth. Ultimately, we conclude that analysis of the core sample collected from this unit using high-sensitivity instrumentation on Earth will enable the measurements required to determine the origin of the minerals, organics and textures it contains.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09413-0

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09413-0