Beginnings of terrestrial life: Problems of the early record and implications for extraterrestrial scenarios

Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

Volumn 3441, Issue , 1998, Pages 149-157

  Schidlowski, Manfred ^a  

^a MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR CHEMISTRY   (Germany)

Author keywords

Archaebacteria; Bolide impacts; Carbon isotopes; Early evolution of life; Microfossils; Paleobiological record; Rock metamorphism

Indexed keywords

CELLS; EARTH (PLANET); ECOSYSTEMS; SEDIMENTARY ROCKS;

BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; MICROBIAL ECOSYSTEMS;

BIOLOGY;

EID: 0002335235     PISSN: 0277786X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Conference Proceeding    
DOI: 10.1117/12.319832     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (37)

1. J. M. Greenberg and C. X. Mendoza-Gómez, "Interstellar dust evolution: A reservoir of prebiotic molecules". In: J.M. Greenberg, C. X. Mendoza-Gómez, and V. Pirronello (Eds.), The Chemistry of Life's Origins, pp. 1-32, Kluwer Acad. Publ., Dordrecht, 1993.
2. W. M. Irvine and R. F. Knacke, "The chemistry of interstellar gas and grains". In: S.K. Atreya, J.B. Pollack, and M.S. Matthews (Eds.), Origin and Evolution of Planetary and Satellite Atmospheres, pp. 3-34, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, (1989).
3. M. Schidlowski, "The initiation of biological processes on Earth: Summary of empirical evidence". In: M.H. Engel and S.A. Macko (Eds.), Organic Geochemistry, pp. 639-655, Plenum Press, New York, 1993.
4. M. Schidlowski, "Early terrestrial life: Problems of the oldest record" In: J. Chela-Flores, M. Chadha, A. Negron-Mendoza, and T. Oshima (Eds.), Chemical Evolution: Self-Organization of the Macromolecules of Life, pp. 65-80, Deepak Publ., Hampton, VA., 1995.
5. J. W. Schopf, "Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New evidence of the antiquity of life", Science 260, pp. 640-646, 1993.
6. H. D. Pflug and E. Reitz, "Palynostratigraphy in Phanerozoic and Precambrian metamorphic rocks". In: M. Schidlowski, S. Golubic, M.M. Kimberley, D.M. McKirdy, and P.A. Trudinger (Eds.), Early Organic Evolution: Implications for Mineral and Energy Resources, pp. 508-518, Spinger, Berlin, 1992.
7. M. R. Walter, "Archean stromatolites: Evidence of the Earth's earliest benthos" In: J.W. Schopf (ed.), Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, pp. 187-213, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1983.
8. B. Durand, "Kerogen - Insoluble Organic Matter from Sedimentary Rocks", 519 pp., Editions Technip, Paris, 1980.
9. 9 yr old Isua sediments, West Greenland: Implications for the Archaean carbon and oxygen cycles", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43, pp. 189-199, 1979.
10. M. Schidlowski, J. M. Hayes, and I. R. Kaplan, "Isotopic inferences of ancient biochemistries: Carbon, sulfur, hydrogen and nitrogen". In: J. W. Schopr (Ed.), Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, pp. 149-186, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., (1983).
11. 12C exchange between calcite and graphite: A possible thermometer in Grenville marbles", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, pp. 411-419, 1981.
12. J. M. Hayes, I. R. Kaplan, and K W. Wedeking, "Precambrian organic geochemistry: Preservation of the record". In: J.W. Schopf (Ed.), Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, pp. 93-134, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1983.
13. M. Schidlowski, "A 3,800-million-year isotropic record of life from carbon in sedimentary rocks", Nature 333, pp. 313-318, 1988.
14. J. W. Schopf (Ed.), Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, pp. xxv+543, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1983.
15. S. Moorbath, R. K. O'Nions, and R. J. Pakhurst, "Early Archaean age for Isua iron-formation, West Greenland", Nature 245, pp. 138-139, 1973.
16. S. M. Awramik, J. W. Schopf, and M. R. Walter, "Filamentous fossil bacteria from the Archaean of Western Australia". In: B. Nagy, R. Weber, J.C. Guerrero, and M. Schidlowski (Eds.), Developments and Interactions of the Precambrian Atmosphere, Lithosphere and Biosphere (Developments in Precambrian Geology 7), pp. 249-266, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1983.
17. H. D. Pflug and H. Jaeschke-Boyer, "Combined structural and chemical analysis of 3,800-Myr-old microfossils", Nature 280, pp. 483-486, 1979.
18. D. Bridgwater, J. H. Allart, J. W. Schopf, C. Klein, M. R. Walter, E. S. Barghorn, P. Strother, A. H. Knoll, and B. E. Gorman, "Microfossil-like objects from the Archaean of Greenland: A cautionary note", Nature 289, pp. 51-53, 1981.
19. E. S. Barghoorn and S. A. Tyler, "Microorganisms from the Gunflint chert", Science 147, pp. 563-577, 1965.
20. H. D. Pflug, "Chemical fossils in early minerals", Topics in Current Chemistry 139, pp. 1-55, 1987.
21. E. I. Robbins, "Appelella ferrifera, a possible new iron-coated microfossil in the Isua iron-formation, southwestern Greenland". In: P.W. Appel and G.L. LaBerge (Eds.), Precambrian Iron-Formations, pp. 141-154, Theophrastus Publications, Athens, 1987.
22. M. Schidlowski, "Carbon isotopes and the oldest record of life: Potential and limits". In: R.B. Hoover (Ed.), Instruments, Methods and Missions for the Investigation of Extraterrestrial Microorganisms, Proc. Int. Soc. Opt. Engin. (SPIE) 3111, pp. 462-471, Bellingham, WA., 19997.
23. J. W. Valley, "Stable isotope geochemistry of metamorphic rocks". In: J.W. Valley, H.P. Taylor, and J.R. O'Neil (Eds.), Stable Isotopes in High Temperature Geological Processes (MSA Reviews in Mineralogy 16), pp. 445-489, Min. Soc. Am., Washington, D.C., 1986.
24. Y. Bottinga, "Calculated fractionation factors for carbon and hydrogen isotope exchange in the system calcite - carbon dioxide - graphite - methane - hydrogen - water vapor", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 33, pp. 49-64, 1969.
25. S. J. Mojzsis, G. Arrhenius, K. D. McKeegan, T. M. Harrison, A. P. Nutman, and R. L. Friend, "Evidence for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago", Nature 384, pp. 55-59, 1996.
26. R. Kreulen and P. C. M. van Beek, "The calcite-graphite isotope thermometer; data on graphite-bearing marbles from Naxos, Greece", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47, 1527-1530, 1983.
27. J. D. Arneth, M. Schidlowski, B. Sarbas, U. Goerg and G. C. Amstutz, "Graphite content and isotopic fractionation between calcite-graphite pairs in metasediments from the Mgama Hills, Southern Kenia", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 49, pp. 1553-1560, 1985.
28. H. Wada and K. Suzuki, "Carbon isotopic thermometry calibrated by dolomite-calcite solvus temperatures", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 47, pp. 697-706, 1983.
29. O. Kandler, "The diversification of life". In: S. Bengtson (Ed.), Early Life on Earth (Nobel Symposium 84), pp. 152-160, Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1993.
30. C. R. Woese, "Archaebacteria", Sci. Am. 244, pp. 98-122, 1981.
31. C. R. Woese, "Bacterial evolution", Microbiol. Rev. 51, pp. 221-271, 1987.
32. G. Wächtershäuser, "Pyrite formation, the first energy source for life: A hypothesis", System. Appl. Microbiol. 10, pp. 207-210, 1988.
33. N. H. Sleep, K. J. Zahnle, J. F. Kasting and H. J. Morowitz, "Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early Earth", Nature 342, pp. 139-142, 1989.
34. C. F. Chyba, "The violent environment of the origin of life: Progress and uncertainties", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 57, pp. 3351-3358, 1993.
35. A. P. Nutman, S. J. Mojzsis and C. R. L. Friend, "Recognition of ≥ 3850 Ma water-lain sediments in West Greenland and their significance for the early Archaean Earth", Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 61, pp. 2474-2484, 1997.
36. M. Schidlowski, "Life on the early Earth: Bridgehead from Cosmos or autochthonous phenomenon?". In: K. Gopalan, V.K. Gaur, B.L.K. Somayajulu and J.D. MacDougall (Eds.), From Mantle to Meteorites (Festschrift for Devendra Lal), pp. 189-199, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore, 1990.
37. M. Schidlowski, "Stable carbon isotopes: Possible clues to early life on Mars", Adv. Space Res. 12(4), pp. 101-110, 1992.