Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record
International audience The evidence for early life and its initial evolution on Earth is linked intimately with the geological evolution of the early Earth. The environment of the early Earth would be considered extreme by modern standards: hot (50–80°C), volcanically and hydrothermally active, anox...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00115136v1 2023-05-15T16:30:13+02:00 Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record Westall, F. Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM) Université d'Orléans (UO)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Ehrenfreund P. Irvine W.M. Owen T. Becker L. Blank J. Brucato J.R. Colangeli L. Derenne S. Dutrey A. Despois D. Lazcano A. Robert F. 2004 https://hal.science/hal-00115136 https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 en eng HAL CCSD Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 hal-00115136 https://hal.science/hal-00115136 doi:10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 Astrobiology: future perspectives https://hal.science/hal-00115136 Ehrenfreund P., Irvine W.M., Owen T., Becker L., Blank, J.,Brucato J.R., Colangeli L., Derenne S., Dutrey A., Despois D., Lazcano A., Robert F. Astrobiology: future perspectives, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp.287-316, 2004, ⟨10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12⟩ early Earth extreme environment early habita t early life prokaryotes [CHIM]Chemical Sciences [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] info:eu-repo/semantics/bookPart Book sections 2004 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 2023-02-08T10:45:31Z International audience The evidence for early life and its initial evolution on Earth is linked intimately with the geological evolution of the early Earth. The environment of the early Earth would be considered extreme by modern standards: hot (50–80°C), volcanically and hydrothermally active, anoxic, high UV flux, and a high flux of extraterrestrial impacts. Habitats for life were more limited until continent-building processes resulted in the formation of stable cratons with wide, shallow, continental platforms in the Mid-Late Archaean. Unfortunately there are no records of the first appearance of life and the earliest isotopic indications of the existence of organisms fractionating carbon in ∼3.8 Ga rocks from the Isua greenstone belt in Greenland are tenuous. Well-preserved microfossils and microbial mats (in the form of tabular and domical stromatolites) occur in 3.5–3.3 Ga, Early Archaean, sedimentary formations from the Barberton (South Africa) and Pilbara (Australia) greenstone belts. They document life forms that show a relatively advanced level of evolution. Microfossil morphology includes filamentous, coccoid, rod and vibroid shapes. Colonial microorganisms formed biofilms and microbial mats at the surfaces of volcaniclastic and chemical sediments, some of which created (small) macroscopic microbialites such as stromatolites. Anoxygenic photosynthesis may already have developed. Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes ratios are in the range of those for organisms with anaerobic metabolisms, such as methanogenesis, sulphate reduction and photosynthesis. Life was apparently distributed widely in shallow-water to littoral environments, including exposed, evaporitic basins and regions of hydrothermal activity. Biomass in the early Archaean was restricted owing to the limited amount of energy that could be produced by anaerobic metabolisms. Microfossils resembling oxygenic photosynthesisers, such as cyanobacteria, probably first occurred in the later part of the Mid Archaean (∼2.9 Ga), concurrent with ... Book Part Greenland Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Greenland 287 316 Dordrecht |
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Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
early Earth extreme environment early habita t early life prokaryotes [CHIM]Chemical Sciences [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
spellingShingle |
early Earth extreme environment early habita t early life prokaryotes [CHIM]Chemical Sciences [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] Westall, F. Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
topic_facet |
early Earth extreme environment early habita t early life prokaryotes [CHIM]Chemical Sciences [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
description |
International audience The evidence for early life and its initial evolution on Earth is linked intimately with the geological evolution of the early Earth. The environment of the early Earth would be considered extreme by modern standards: hot (50–80°C), volcanically and hydrothermally active, anoxic, high UV flux, and a high flux of extraterrestrial impacts. Habitats for life were more limited until continent-building processes resulted in the formation of stable cratons with wide, shallow, continental platforms in the Mid-Late Archaean. Unfortunately there are no records of the first appearance of life and the earliest isotopic indications of the existence of organisms fractionating carbon in ∼3.8 Ga rocks from the Isua greenstone belt in Greenland are tenuous. Well-preserved microfossils and microbial mats (in the form of tabular and domical stromatolites) occur in 3.5–3.3 Ga, Early Archaean, sedimentary formations from the Barberton (South Africa) and Pilbara (Australia) greenstone belts. They document life forms that show a relatively advanced level of evolution. Microfossil morphology includes filamentous, coccoid, rod and vibroid shapes. Colonial microorganisms formed biofilms and microbial mats at the surfaces of volcaniclastic and chemical sediments, some of which created (small) macroscopic microbialites such as stromatolites. Anoxygenic photosynthesis may already have developed. Carbon, nitrogen and sulphur isotopes ratios are in the range of those for organisms with anaerobic metabolisms, such as methanogenesis, sulphate reduction and photosynthesis. Life was apparently distributed widely in shallow-water to littoral environments, including exposed, evaporitic basins and regions of hydrothermal activity. Biomass in the early Archaean was restricted owing to the limited amount of energy that could be produced by anaerobic metabolisms. Microfossils resembling oxygenic photosynthesisers, such as cyanobacteria, probably first occurred in the later part of the Mid Archaean (∼2.9 Ga), concurrent with ... |
author2 |
Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM) Université d'Orléans (UO)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie du CNRS (INC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Ehrenfreund P. Irvine W.M. Owen T. Becker L. Blank J. Brucato J.R. Colangeli L. Derenne S. Dutrey A. Despois D. Lazcano A. Robert F. |
format |
Book Part |
author |
Westall, F. |
author_facet |
Westall, F. |
author_sort |
Westall, F. |
title |
Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
title_short |
Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
title_full |
Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
title_fullStr |
Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
title_full_unstemmed |
Early life on Earth: the ancient fossil record |
title_sort |
early life on earth: the ancient fossil record |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2004 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00115136 https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 |
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Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
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Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_source |
Astrobiology: future perspectives https://hal.science/hal-00115136 Ehrenfreund P., Irvine W.M., Owen T., Becker L., Blank, J.,Brucato J.R., Colangeli L., Derenne S., Dutrey A., Despois D., Lazcano A., Robert F. Astrobiology: future perspectives, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp.287-316, 2004, ⟨10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 hal-00115136 https://hal.science/hal-00115136 doi:10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2305-7_12 |
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287 |
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316 |
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Dordrecht |
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1766019929456246784 |