Analysis of Early Iron Sulfide, Carbonate, and Phosphate Mineral Analogues Produced by Flow-Driven Precipitation in a Microchannel

Most of the chemical and physical interactions of interest to the astrobiology community are influenced by the mineralogy of the systems under consideration. Often, this mineralogy occurs in sediment or sediment-like aqueous microenvironments in which the early minerals differ dramatically from the mature version that results from a long diagenesis, which are tied to complex interactions of pH, redox state, concentration, and temperature. This interconnectedness is difficult to reproduce in a laboratory setting yet is essential to understanding how the physical and chemical demands of living systems alter and are altered by their geological context. We present a facile means for producing precipitated mineral analogues within a microchannel and demonstrate its analytical efficacy through instrumental and modeling techniques. We show that amorphous, early-stage analogues of iron sulfide, iron carbonate, and iron phosphate can be formed at the boundary between flowing solutions, modeled on the microscale, and analyzed by standard instrumental techniques such as scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.