SPECTROSCOPIC SEARCH FOR FOSSILS IN TERRESTRIAL LAYERED ROCKS

摘要

The aim of this paper is to report about the activity we have recently undertaken in order to explore the possibility of detecting signs of past or present life by means of spectroscopic signatures. In future we plan to check if they can be detectable on Mars, either by orbiters or by landers, using the standard spectroscopic techniques. To start this investigation, we began to analyse samples with different fossils content, which can be found in a site near Gubbio (Italy), where there is a geological sequence (K-T) with layers of the same chemical composition but of variable fossils abundance.