Data for: Diagnostic Global Lipid Patterns from Hydrothermal and Evaporitic Analogs for Life-Detection on Mars And the Ocean Worlds

This repository provides the molecular and stable-carbon isotopic datasets of the lipid biomarkers and other organics detected in samples from the Puga hot springs and the Tso Kar saline lake (Ladakh, India). The data are distributed as UTF-8 encoded .csv files to ensure full compatibility with open-data standards. We recommend opening the files in software such as Microsoft Excel or equivalent spreadsheet programs for easier inspection and interpretation. The contents of each file are described below: Molecular_Lipids_Ladakh: this dataset contains the lipid biomarkers and other organics identified in the two extreme environments from Ladakh (Puga and Tso Kar), based on molecular analyses (gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, GC-MS) of their samples. The first five columns describe the organic compounds isolated in the non-polar (apolar) fraction (rows 3-71), acidic fraction (rows 72-144), and polar fraction (rows 145-202). The first column lists the full compound names; the second column provides the compound ID; the third column indicates the polarity fraction in which each compound was detected; the fourth column specifies the compound family (e.g. straight, branched, unsaturated, triterpenoid, etc.); and the fifth column identifies the more specific compound type within each family and polarity fraction (e.g., n-alkane, alkene, hopanoid, in the apolar fraction; or n-alkanoic acid, iso-/anteiso-acid, cycloproplyl acid in the acidic fraction). The remaining columns report the concentrations (µg/g dry weight) of the organic compounds identified in the Puga (cols. 6-10) and Tso Kar (cols. 11-15) samples. Compounds not detected in a given sample are indicated as zero. CSIA_Lipids_Ladakh: this dataset contains the stable-carbon isotopic composition (δ¹³C) of the organic compounds in the samples from Puga and Tso Kar, based on Compound-Specific Isotopic Analysis (CSIA) performed via GC-MS coupled to an Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS). The first five columns describe the organic compounds in the same way as in the Molecular_Lipids_Ladakh dataset (i.e., full name, ID, polarity fraction, compound family, and compound type). The remaining columns report the δ¹³C values (in per mil notation) of the organic compounds detected by the IRMS in the Puga samples (cols. 6-10) and Tso Kar samples (cols. 11-15). Compounds that were absent or at concentrations too low to be detected by the IRMS are indicated by empty cells. The isotopic composition of the bulk organic matter (total organic carbon or TOC) is shown in row 3, that for compounds from the non-polar (apolar) fraction is shown in rows 4-72, those from the acidic fraction in rows 73-145, and those from the polar fraction in rows 146-202.