Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes – Page 3 – My WordPress Site

The painting on the left is an artist’s conception of a plume eruption on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The image on the right is a photo of two researchers in the Utah desert collecting effluent from the Crystal cold-water geyser. The aim of their study is to understand if and how material is modified as it is transported from reservoir to the spray of a geyser. What they learn can be applied to the study of plumes from icy moons that might host life, or the components for it, in a subsurface ocean. Credit: PSI/William Hartmann/Morgan Cable

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Desert Worlds, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

What Cold-water Geysers On Earth Reveal About The Habitability Of Ocean Worlds

by Keith CowingFebruary 18, 2026February 18, 2026

Haughton-Mars Project Base Camp - Haughton Crater, Nunavut, Canada -- Mars Institute

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Missions & Hardware, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, People Of Astrobiology, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Conceptual Challenges In Astrobiological Analog Environments And Paths Toward Resolution

by Keith CowingFebruary 17, 2026February 17, 2026

ID: ESP_067414_0945 date: 13 December 2020 altitude: 247 km NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona larger image

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars

Orbital Recon: A Decade Of Carbon Dioxide Sublimation At Mars’ South Pole

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2026February 16, 2026

XTREMOLIFE

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Commercial & Private Sector, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Sample Return

XTREMOLIFE: An EU Initiative to Unlock the Biotechnological Potential of Extremophiles

by Keith CowingFebruary 16, 2026February 16, 2026

Dr. Robyn Barbato, a senior research microbiologist and leader of ERDC-CRREL’s soil microbiology team, coring permafrost samples in the Permafrost Tunnel in Fox, Alaska.

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Polar / Alpine Expeditions

CRREL Researchers Discover New Microbe Species Frozen In Alaskan Permafrost

by Keith CowingFebruary 12, 2026February 12, 2026

ID: ESP_039701_1095, date: 14 January 2015, altitude: 247 km, https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_039701_1095 Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Missions & Hardware

Active High-Latitude Dune-Gullies On Mars

by Keith CowingFebruary 11, 2026February 11, 2026

Geographic distribution of extreme environments, that can serve as planetary analogues, overlaid on a hypsometric map of the Indian subcontinent and adjoining Indian Ocean. -- Frontiers via eartharxiv.org

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrobiology (general), Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Planetary Analog Sites In The Indian Subcontinent And The Indian Ocean: Underexplored Environments Suited For Astrobiological And Space Research

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2026February 5, 2026

Quantitative morphological metric extraction results and numerical simulation results. A. Spatial distribution of DAF across the study area, overlaid on a shaded relief base map derived from DTEEC_033165_2195_032875_2195_A01 (26). Colors represent specific DAF values indicated by the color bar on the bottom right. The MBT boundary is shown as a black dashed line. B. Schematic diagram defining the key morphological feature of MBT. The curve represents the terrain tangent of MBT. The yellow shaded areas indicate depression. The dashed line represents the depression threshold elevation (DTE) (see SI Appendix). C-E. HiRISE images of three local MBT in the study area. All three images share the same scale-bar. F-H. Detrended observed elevation data for three MBT areas shown in C-E, respectively (SI Appendix, Fig. S3). The white contour lines, which correspond to DTE values, outline the depression areas. Colors indicate elevation value using a color bar shown to the right of H. The I-K. Simulation results with increasing maximum stone movement rate (𝑣max): 3.25 mm/cycle (I), 3.40 mm/cycle (J) and 3.90 mm/cycle(K).Colors represent the simulated elevation using a common color bar shown to the right of K. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Desert Worlds, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Sculpting Of Martian Brain Terrain Reveals The Drying Of Ancient Mars

by Keith CowingFebruary 5, 2026February 5, 2026

Antarctic cryptoendolithic community colonising sandstones collected in Linnaeus Terrace by Laura Selbmann during the XXXI Italian Antarctic expedition (PNRA, 2015–2016) showing the typical stratification: (a) crust, (b) black fungi layer, (c) lichenised and non-lichenised algae and (d) red accumulation zone. -- International Journal of Astrobiology, via Xmol

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Microbiology & Virology, Sample Return, Tricorders & Sensors

Setting A Polyphasic Approach To Study Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Communities As A Toolkit For Astrobiology

by Keith CowingJanuary 30, 2026January 30, 2026

(D) White cotton-like secondary mineral deposits on the wall–ceiling interface (sampling site CLT3, dark zone; scale bar = 10 cm). -- Astrobiology via Sage

Analog Studies, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Microbiology & Virology, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Tricorders & Sensors

The Microbial Inhabitants of the Corona Lava Tube: Astrobiological Insights from a Mars Analog Environment

by Keith CowingJanuary 28, 2026January 28, 2026