The Río Tinto Basin, Spain: Mineralogy, sedimentary geobiology, and implications for interpretation of outcrop rocks at Meridiani Planum, Mars

Diverse prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms inhabit acidic and seasonally dry Río Tinto environments. Organic matter does not persist in Río Tinto sediments, but biosignatures imparted to sedimentary rocks as macroscopic textures of coated microbial streamers, surface blisters formed by biogenic gas, and microfossils preserved as casts and molds in iron oxides help to shape strategies for astrobiological investigation of Meridiani outcrops.