Microbial life in the harsh conditions of Antarctica's cold desert may be considered an analogue of potential life on early Mars. In order to explore the development and survival of this epilithic and endolithic form of microbial life, our most sophisticated, state-of-the-art visualization technologies have to be used to their full potential. The study of any ecosystem requires a knowledge of its components and the processes that take place within it. If we are to understand the structure and function of each component of the microecosystems that inhabit lithic substrates, we need to be able to quantify and identify the microorganisms present in each lithobiontic ecological niche and to accurately characterize the mineralogical features of these hidden microhabitats. Once we have established the techniques that will allow us to observe and identify these microorganisms and mineral substrates in situ, and have confirmed the presence of water, the following questions can be addressed: How are the microorganisms organized in the fissures or cavities? Which microorganisms are present and how many are there? Additional questions that logically follow include: What are the existing water relationships in the microhabitat and what effects do the microorganisms have on the mineral composition? Mechanical and chemical changes in minerals and mineralization of microbial cells can give rise to physical and/or chemical traces (biomarkers) and to microbial fossil formation. In this report, we describe the detection of chains of magnetite within the Martian meteorite ALH84001, as an example of the potential use of SEM-BSE in the search for plausible traces of life on early Mars.

中文翻译：

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研究南极​​石炭纪微生物及其无机痕迹的新方法及其在火星岩石生命探测中的应用。

在南极寒冷沙漠的恶劣条件下的微生物生活可能被认为是火星早期潜在生命的类似物。为了探索这种上生和内生微生物生命形式的发展和生存，我们必须充分利用我们最复杂，最先进的可视化技术。对任何生态系统的研究都需要了解其组成部分及其内部发生的过程。如果我们要了解居住在石质基质上的微生态系统各组成部分的结构和功能，我们需要能够量化和识别存在于每个石炭纪生态位中的微生物，并准确地表征这些隐蔽微生境的矿物学特征。一旦建立了使我们能够就地观察和识别这些微生物和矿物底物并确认存在水的技术，就可以解决以下问题：裂缝或腔中的微生物是如何组织的？存在哪些微生物，并且存在几种？从逻辑上讲，还会有其他问题包括：微生境中现有的水关系是什么，微生物对矿物质成分有什么影响？矿物质的机械和化学变化以及微生物细胞的矿化会导致物理和/或化学痕迹（生物标记）和微生物化石的形成。在这份报告中，我们描述了火星陨石ALH84001中磁铁矿链的探测，