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The origin of methane and biomolecules from a CO2 cycle on terrestrial planets

Nature Astronomy volume 1, pages 721–726 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Understanding the chemical evolution of newly formed terrestrial planets involves uncertainties in atmospheric chemical composition and assessing the plausibility of biomolecule synthesis. In this study, an original scenario for the origin of methane on Mars and terrestrial planets is suggested. Carbon dioxide in Martian and other planetary atmospheres can be abiotically converted into a mixture of methane and carbon monoxide by ‘methanogenesis’ on porous mineral photoactive surfaces under soft ultraviolet irradiation. On young planets exposed to heavy bombardment by interplanetary matter, this process can be followed by biomolecule synthesis through the reprocessing of reactive reducing atmospheres by impact-induced shock waves. The proposed mechanism of methanogenesis may help to answer the question concerning the formation of methane and carbon monoxide by photochemical processes, the formation of biomolecules on early Earth and other terrestrial planets, and the source and seasonal variation of methane concentrations on Mars.

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Fig. 1: Photocatalytic reduction of the sample over montmorillonite.
Fig. 2: Photocatalytic reduction of the sample over anatase.
Fig. 3: Seasonal variation of atmospheric composition on Mars.
Fig. 4: High-power laser irradiation of the sample.

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Acknowledgements

This work is a part of a research series funded by the Czech Science Foundation (grants no. 17-05076S and 13-07724S), by the programme of Regional Cooperation between the Regions and the Institutes of the Czech Academy of Sciences in 2017 (project numbers: R200401721 and R200401521) and by the STS Missions programme within the COST Actions CM1401 and TD1308. The authors also thank the PALS facility staff for supporting the experiments, particularly L. Juha, J. Ullschmied, J. Skála, J. Dostál, P. Prchal and J. Mareš. We also thank the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic for supporting the PALS infrastructure operation and research by grants LM2015083 and LG15013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. J. Heyrovský Institute of Physical Chemistry, Czech Academy of Sciences, Dolejškova 3, CZ18223, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    Svatopluk Civiš, Antonín Knížek, Ondřej Ivanek, Petr Kubelík, Markéta Zukalová, Ladislav Kavan & Martin Ferus

  2. Faculty of Science, Department of Physical and Macromolecular Chemistry, Charles University in Prague, Albertov 2030, CZ12840, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Antonín Knížek

  3. Department of Radiation and Chemical Physics, Institute of Physics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Slovance 1999/2, CZ18221, Prague 8, Czech Republic

    Petr Kubelík

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Contributions

S.C. and M.F. came up with the idea; A.K., M.F. and S.C. conducted the experiments; O.I. conducted the GC-MS analysis; A.K. and P.K. performed evaluation of the data; L.K. and M.Z. prepared the TiO2 samples; S.C., M.F., A.K., L.K. and M.Z. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Svatopluk Civiš.

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Civiš, S., Knížek, A., Ivanek, O. et al. The origin of methane and biomolecules from a CO2 cycle on terrestrial planets. Nat Astron 1, 721–726 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-017-0260-8

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