Evidence of Martian Microalgae at the Pahrump Hills Field Site: a morphometric analysis

We describe an objective morphometric analysis of images of specimens resembling fossilized microalgae photographed by the rover Curiosity in Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater, Mars; the geological remains of an ancient freshwater lake. lozenge microstructures photographed at Pahrump Hills have been described as abiologic crystals or, based on morphology, microalgae. Our analysis show that the Fractal Dimension, D0, and Entropy, D1, of the Martian lozenge microstructures differ from the one of the negative control, gypsum, with high statistical significance (p < 0.01; p< 0.01). Vice versa, Fractal Dimension of the Martian lozenge algae-like microstructures overlaps and is statistically similar to unicellular alga Euglena mutabilis, positive control (p = n.s.). Fractal analysis support the evidence that such microstructures are possible fossils of Martian microalgae.