Astrobiology Workshop, Macquarie University July 12-13 2001

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Biological vs. inorganic morphologies .... some comparisons

ST Hyde, A Christy (ANU); JM Garcia Ruiz (Granada)

Morphological signatures of biological fossils or remnants are now known to be shared by some totally inorganic materials. We have grown carbonate aggregates whose forms mimic closely those of bacteria, and ultrastructures in ALH84001. These results demonstrate that biotic materials cannot be identified on the basis of form.