Radiolytic Production of Methane by Microbial Life

  • Released Thursday, January 15, 2009
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Animation depicting how 'extreme microbes' on Earth produce methane.

In this animation, energy produced by radioactive minerals remove hydrogen from water molecules, which are then consumed by the microbes along with carbon dioxide. The microbes then emit methane as a byproduct.

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, January 15, 2009.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.

Series

This visualization can be found in the following series: