P034
Redox Frontiers: Energy Pathways for Life Across Planetary Systems
Redox Frontiers: Energy Pathways for Life Across Planetary Systems
Session ID#: 248744
Session Description:
Redox processes serve as the fundamental energetic basis connecting non-living geological systems with living biological ones on Earth and potentially throughout the cosmos. This session explores how electron transfer processes mediate energy flows on Earth and across planetary bodies providing crucial framework for understanding habitability. We invite contributions examining redox dynamics in early Earth and Mars environments, ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus, and exoplanetary contexts. Topics include how interactions between atmosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere create redox gradients that could support biological activity; metabolic adaptations to varying redox environments; redox stratification in the geologic record; and methods for identifying habitable redox conditions on distant worlds. By bringing together the Earth and planetary science communities, we aim to develop a unified understanding of how redox chemistry shapes habitability in the solar system and provides essential context for the search for life in the universe.
Co-Sponsor(s):
- B - Biogeosciences
- EP - Earth and Planetary Surface Processes
- PP - Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology
Index Terms:
0456 Life in extreme environments [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0471 Oxidation/reduction reactions [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
5220 Hydrothermal systems and weathering on other planets [PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY]
5225 Early environment of Earth [PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY]
Primary Convener: Dr. Adomas Valantinas, Brown University, Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Providence, United States
Conveners: Patrick James Gasda, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, United States and Samuel M Howell, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States
See more of: Planetary Sciences