LCLU Senior Fellow

Dr. Adomas Valantinas
Department of Earth Sciences

At Cambridge, Adam will pursue one of the most intriguing discoveries made by the Perseverance rover: the "leopard spot" features identified in rocks within Jezero Crater, chemical patterns that, on Earth, could be interpreted as potential signatures of microbial activity. Beginning in September 2026, Adam will work with Professor Nick Tosca to investigate whether these features could instead have formed through purely abiotic geological and chemical processes. Understanding the origin of these structures, whether biological or not, will provide valuable insights into the environmental processes that shaped early Mars and may also shed light on similar processes that occurred on the early Earth, including those relevant to the emergence of life itself.

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