Infrared spectroscopy of microbially induced carbonates and past life on Mars

In this work we show that our method can be successfully applied also to microbialites, i.e. bio-induced carbonates deposits, and particularly to stromatolites, the laminated fabric of microbialites, some of which are among the most primitive and oldest traces of biological activity on Earth. This result is of valuable importance since such primitive living organisms can be considered good analogues for putative martian life forms.