APEX Special 24th April: Salty Secrets about the Search for Life on Mars
We look forward to a bonus APEX talk by Kathleen Benison, Professor of Geology at West Virginia University and Return Sample Selection Participating Scientist for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission.
APEX Special 24th April: Salty Secrets about the Search for Life on Mars
24 Apr 2026, 13:00 – 14:00
We are very pleased to announce a bonus Astrobiology and Planetary Exploration (APEX) seminar this Friday 24th April, 13:00–14:00. The seminar will be given by Professor Kathleen Benison (West Virginia University), who is travelling through London and has kindly agreed to give us a talk:
- Kathleen Benison (West Virginia University): Salty Secrets about the Search for Life on Mars
Kathy is Professor of Geology at West Virginia University and PI of the Red Earth Observatory. An abstract for the talk can be found below.
Please note that the talk is in not in our usual location. We will meet in BCB 402 (Birkbeck Central Building). To reach us, please enter Birkbeck Central on Malet Street and take the lift to the fourth floor. Then turn right and walk through the seating area, following the corridor to the end.
We hope to see many of you on Friday.
Abstract
Salt minerals, including halite and gypsum, exist in various crystal types, grain types, and lithologies on Mars and record a complex history of saline surface waters and groundwaters on the planet. As salt minerals on Earth grow, they trap hydrosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere, and biosphere in primary fluid and solid inclusions. Observations and analyses of fluid and solid inclusions can reveal environmental conditions under which the host salt mineral precipitated. In addition, entrapped microorganisms and organic compounds can be detected and identified. There may even be the potential for microorganisms to survive within fluid inclusions for hundreds of millions of years. If live ever existed on Mars, it may have been preserved in salt minerals. Therefore, any Martian salt minerals brought to Earth should be examined for potential biosignatures.
Links
APEX Seminars
The APEX seminar series will resume in October 2026. Please keep an eye on the programme page (link below) for updates nearer the time.
If you are not on our regular mailing lists and are interested in attending these seminars, please contact joanna.fabbri AT ucl.ac.uk.
Some of our past APEX talks can also be viewed online.
Further information
Ticketing
Open
Cost
Free
Open to
Invitation Only
Availability
Yes
Organiser
Dr Andrew Rushby / Dr Keyron Hickman-Lewis / Dr Joanna Fabbri
Other events in this series
APEX is back! Organic–mineral associations in Jezero crater
We are delighted to welcome back our APEX seminar series with a talk from Dr Keyron Hickman-Lewis, Lecturer in Planetary Exploration at Birkbeck, University of London.
APEX this week: It Came From Deep Space! What we've learned about 3I/ATLAS in the first 100 days
For this week's APEX seminar, we are delighted to welcome a talk from Dr Mark Norris, a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering and Computing, University of Lancashire.
APEX this week: Hydrocarbon Hazes on Temperate sub-Neptune K2-18b
We look forward to the next talk in our APEX seminar series from Ruohan Liu, a PhD researcher studying exoplanets in the Astrophysics Group at UCL's Department of Physics and Astronomy.
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