LAKES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The high acidity, high salinity lakes of Western Australia offer an opportunity to study the microorganisms that dwell in earthly analogs to martian environments.

With pH as low as 1.4, salinities >32% TDS, and distinctive features that offer insights to early Mars, these extreme samples are allowing the XMP team to develop new techniques that may be useful on future planetary investigations. XMP and MGRG member Sarah Stewart Johnson is leading the effort to understand the evolution of planetary environments and the preservation of biosignatures within them.