Ultrastructural and geochemical characterization of Archen-Paleoproterozoic graphite particles: Implications for recognizing traces of life in highly metamorphosed rocks

Astrobiology

Volumn 7, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 684-704

  Schiffbauer, James D ^a   Yin, Leiming ^b   Bodnar, Robert J ^a   Kaufman, Alan J ^c   Meng, Fanwei ^b   Hu, Jie ^b   Shen, Beng ^a   Yuan, Xunlai ^b   Bao, Huiming ^d   Xiao, Shuhai ^a  

^a VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE AND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b NANJING INSTITUTE OF GEOLOGY AND PALAEONTOLOGY   (China)

^c Bldg 142   (United States)

^d LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Acritarch; Amphibolite grade metamorphism; Archean; Graphite discs; Jingangku formation; Paleoproterozoic; Wutai Metamorphic Complex

Indexed keywords

GRAPHITE;

ALTITUDE; ARCHAEBACTERIUM; ARTICLE; CHINA; FOSSIL; GEOGRAPHY; GEOLOGY; METAMORPHOSIS; METHODOLOGY; PALEONTOLOGY; ULTRASTRUCTURE;

ALTITUDE; ARCHAEA; CHINA; FOSSILS; GEOGRAPHY; GEOLOGY; GRAPHITE; METAMORPHOSIS, BIOLOGICAL; PALEONTOLOGY;

ACRITARCHA; BELEMNOIDEA;

EID: 34848920055     PISSN: 15311074     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1089/ast.2006.0098     Document Type: Article

References (76)

1. Allwood, A.C., Walter, M.R., Kamber, B.S., Marshall, C.P., and Burch, I.W. (2006) Stromatolite reef from the Early Archean era of Australia. Nature 441, 714-718.
2. Altermann, W. and Schopf, J.W. (1995) Microfossils from the Neoarchean Campbell Group, Griqualand West Sequence of the Transvaal Supergroup, and their paleoenvironmental and evolutionary implications. Precambrian Res. 75, 65-90.
3. Awramik, S.M., Schopf, J.W., and Walter, M.R. (1983) Filamentous fossil bacteria from the Archean of Western Australia. Precambrian Res. 20, 357-374.
4. Bai, J. (1986) The Early Precambrian Geology of Wutaishan, Tianjin Science and Technology Press, Tianjin.
5. Bai, J., Wang, R.Z., and Guo, J.J. (1992) The Major Geologic Events of Early Precambrian and Their Dating in Wutaishan Region, Geological Publishing House, Beijing.
6. Bekker, A., Holland, H.D., Wang, P.-L., Rumble III, D., Stein, H.J., Hannah, J.L., Coetzee, L.L., and Beukes, N.J. (2004) Dating the rise of atmospheric oxygen. Nature 427, 117-120.
7. Beyssac, O., Goffé, B., Chopin, C., and Rouzaud, J.N. (2002) Raman spectra of carbonaceous material in metasediments: a new geothermometer. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 20, 859-871.
8. Brasier, M., McLoughlin, N., Green, O., and Wacey, D. (2006) A fresh look at the fossil evidence for early Archaean cellular life. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci. 361, 887-902.
9. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Jephcoat, A.P., Kleppe, A.K., Kranendonk, M.J.V., Lindsay, J.F., Steele, A., and Grassineau, N.V. (2002) Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils. Nature 416, 76-81.
10. Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Lindsay, J.F., McLoughlin, N., Steele, A., and Stoakes, C. (2005) Critical testing of Earth's oldest putative fossil assemblage from the 3.5 Ga Apex chert, Chinaman Creek, Western Australia. Precambrian Res. 140, 55-102.
11. Ding, T., Wan, D., Zhang, Z., Wang, C., and Li, Y. (2004) Sulfur isotope anomaly discovered in sulfide bed of later Archean Jingangku formation, Wutai group, Shanxi Province, China. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68 (Supplement 1), A789.
12. Farquhar, J., Hauri, E., and Wang, J. (1999) New insights into carbon fluid chemistry and graphite precipitation: SIMS analysis of granulite facies graphite from Ponmudi, South India. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 171, 607-621.
13. Fedo, C.M. and Whitehouse, M.J. (2002) Metasomatic origin of quartz-pyroxene rock, Akilia, Greenland, and implications for Earth's earliest life. Science 296, 1449-1452.
14. Grotzinger, J.P. and Knoll, A.H. (1999) Stromatolites in Precambrian carbonates: evolutionary mileposts or environmental dipsticks? Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 27, 313-358.
15. Grotzinger, J.P. and Rothman, D.H. (1996) An abiotic model for stromatolite morphogenesis. Nature 383, 423-425.
16. Hanel, M., Montenari, M., and Kalt, A. (1999) Determining sedimentation ages of high-grade metamorphic gneisses by their palynological record: a case study in the northern Schwarzwald (Variscan Belt, Germany). International Journal of Earth Sciences 88, 49-59.
17. Hofmann, H.J., Grey, K., Hickman, A.H., and Thorpe, R.I. (1999) Origin of 3.45 Ga coniform stromatolites in Warrawoona Group, Western Australia. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 111, 1256-1262.
18. Horita, J. (2005) Some perspectives on isotope biosignatures for early life. Chem. Geol. 218, 171-186.
19. Huntley, J.W., Xiao, S., and Kowalewski, M. (2006) 1.3 billion years of acritarch history: an empirical morphospace approach. Precambrian Res. 144, 52-68.
20. Jaszczak, J.A. (1997) Unusual graphite crystals from the Lime Crest quarry, Sparta, New Jersey. Rocks and Minerals 72, 330-334.
21. Jaszczak, J.A. and Rakovan, J. (2002) Growth spirals on graphite crystals from the Trotter Mine dump, Franklin, New Jersey. The Picking Table 43, 11-13.
22. Javaux, E.J., Knoll, A.H., and Walter, M.R. (2001) Morphological and ecological complexity in early eukaryotic ecosystems. Nature 412, 66-69.
23. Javaux, E.J., Knoll, A.H., and Walter, M.R. (2003) Recognizing and interpreting the fossils of early eukaryotes. Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 33, 75-94.
24. 2 levels in the Proterozoic atmosphere estimated from analyses of individual microfossils. Nature 425, 279-282.
25. Kidder, D.L. and Awramik, S.M. (1990) Acritarchs in lower greenschist facies argillite of the middle Proterozoic Libby Formation, Upper Belt Supergroup, Montana. Palaios 5, 124-133.
26. Knoll, A.H. (1992) Microfossils in metasedimentary cherts of the Scotia Group, Prins Karls Forland, western Svalbard. Palaeontology 35, 751-774.
27. Knoll, A.H. (1994) Proterozoic and Early Cambrian protists: Evidence for accelerating evolutionary tempo. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 91, 6743-6750.
28. Knoll, A.H. and Barghoorn, E.S. (1977) Archean micro-fossils showing cell-division from Swaziland System of South Africa. Science 198, 396-398.
29. Knoll, A.H., Javaux, E.J., Hewitt, D., and Cohen, P. (2006) Eukaryotic organisms in Proterozoic oceans. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond., B, Biol. Sci. 361, 1023-1038.
30. Kretz, R. (1996) Graphite deformation in marble and mylonitic marble, Grenville Province, Canadian Shield. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 14, 399-412.
31. Kröner, A., Wilde, S.A., Li, J.H., and Wang, K.Y. (2005) Age and evolution of a late Archean to Paleoproterozoic upper to lower crustal section in the Wutaishan/Hengshan/Fuping terrain of northern China. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 24, 577-595.
32. Lepland, A., van Zuilen, M.A., Arrhenius, G., Whitehouse, M.J., and Fedo, C.J. (2005) Questioning the evidence for Earth's earliest life - Akilia revisited. Geology 33(1), 77-79.
33. Li, J.L., Wang, K.Y., Wang, C.Q., Liu, X.H., and Zhao, Z.Y. (1990) Early Proterozoic collision orogenic belt in Wutaishan area, China. Scientia Geologica Sinica 25, 1-11.
34. Liu, D.Y., Page, R.W., Compston, W., and Wu, J.S. (1985) U-Pb zircon geochronology of late Archean metamorphic rocks in the Taihangshan-Wutaishan area, North China. Precambrian Res. 27, 85-109.
35. Lowe, D.R. (1994) Abiotic origin of described stromatolites older than 3.2 Ga. Geology 22, 387-390.
36. McCollom, T.M. and Seewald, J.S. (2006) Carbon isotope composition of organic compounds produced by abiotic synthesis under hydrothermal conditions. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 243, 74-84.
37. Mojzsis, S.J. and Harrison, T.M. (2000) Vestiges of a beginning: clues to the emergent biosphere recorded in the oldest known sedimentary rocks. GSA Today 10, 1-6.
38. Mojzsis, S.J., Arrhenius, G., McKeegan, K.D., Harrison, T.M., Nutman, A.P., and Friend, C.R.L. (1996) Evidence for life on Earth by 3800 million years ago. Nature 384, 55-59.
39. Molyneux, S.G. (1998) An upper Dalradian microfossil reassessed. J. Geol. Soc. London 155, 741-743.
40. Palache, C. (1941) Contributions to the mineralogy of Sterling Hill, New Jersey: Morphology of graphite, arsenopyrite, pyrite, and arsenic. Am. Mineral. 26, 709-717.
41. Polat, A., Kusky, T., Li, J., Fryer, B., Kerrich, R., and Patrick, K. (2005) Geochemistry of Neoarchean (ca. 2.55-2.50 Ga) volcanic and ophiolitic rocks in the Wutaishan greenstone belt, central orogenic belt, North China craton: Implications for geodynamic setting and continental growth. GSA Bulletin 117, 1387-1399.
42. Rahl, J.M., Anderson, K.M., Brandon, M.T., and Fassoulas, C. (2005) Raman spectroscopic carbonaceous material thermometry of low-grade metamorphic rocks: calibration and application to tectonic exhumation in Crete, Greece. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 240, 339-354.
43. Rakovan, J. and Jaszczak, J.A. (2002) Multiple length scale growth spirals on metamorphic graphite [001) surfaces studied by atomic force microscopy. Am. Mineral. 87, 17-24.
44. Rantitsch, G., Grogger, W., Teichert, C., Ebner, F., Hofer, C., Maurer, E., Schaffer, B., and Toth, M. (2004) Conversion of carbonaceous material to graphite within the Greywacke Zone of the Eastern Alps. International Journal of Earth Sciences 93, 959-973.
45. 13C-depleted carbon microparticles in >3700-Ma sea-floor sedimentary rocks from West Greenland. Science 283, 674-676.
46. Rumble, D. and Hoering, T.C. (1986) Carbon isotope geochemistry of graphite vein deposits from New Hampshire, U.S.A. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 50, 1239-1247.
47. Santosh, M., Wada, H., Satish-Kumar, M., and Binu-Lal, S.S. (2003) Carbon isotope "stratigraphy" in a single graphdte crystal: implications for the crystal growth mechanism of fluid-deposited graphite. Am. Mineral. 88, 1689-1696.
48. 2-fluid inclusions in granulites: insights on graphite precipitation and carbon isotope evolution. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 69, 3841-3856.
49. Satish-Kumar, M., Wada, H., Santosh, M., and Yoshida, M. (2001) Fluid-rock history of granulite facies humite-marbles from Ambasamudram, southern India. Journal of Metamorphic Geology 19, 395-410.
50. Schiffbauer, J.D., Xiao, S., Bodnar, R.J., Yin, L., Yuan, X., Meng, F., Hu, J., and Kaufman, A.J. (2006) Can organic-walled microfossils survive high metamorphic heating? Characterization of experimentally heated acritarchs using Raman spectroscopy. [abstract]. GSA Abstracts and Programs 38(7), 305.
51. Schopf, J.W. (1993) Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex chert: new evidence of the antiquity of life. Science 260, 640-646.
52. Schopf, J.W. and Klein, C. (1992) The Proterozoic Biosphere: A Multidisciplinary Study, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
53. Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev, A.B., Agresti, D.G., Wdowiak, T.J., and Czaja, A.D. (2002) Laser-Raman imagery of Earth's earliest fossils. Nature 416, 73-76.
54. Schopf, J.W. and Packer, B.M. (1987) Ealry Archean (3.3-billion- to 3.5-billion-year-old) microfossils from Warrawoona group, Australia. Science 237, 70-73.
55. Schopf, J.W. and Walter, M.R. (1983) Archean microfossils: new evidence of ancient microbes. In Earth's Earliest Biosphere: Its Origin and Evolution, edited by J.W. Schopf, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, pp. 214-239.
56. Squire, R.J., Stewart, I.R., and Zang, W.L. (2006) Acritarchs in polydeformed and highly altered Cambrian rocks in western Victoria. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences 53, 697-705.
57. Sun, S. and Zhu, S. (1998) The discovery of micropaleophytes from the Doucun Subgroup, Hutuo Group in Wutai Mountain, Shanxi, China. Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica 15, 286-293.
58. Tian, Y.Q. (1991) Geology and Gold Mineralization of Wutai-Hengshan Greenstone Belt. Shanxi Science and Technology Press, Taiyuan.
59. Ueno, Y., Yurimoto, H., Yoshioka, H., Komiya, T., and Maruyama, S. (2002) Ion microprobe analysis of graphite from ca. 3.8 Ga metasediments, Isua supracrustal belt, West Greenland: Relationship between metamorphism and carbon isotopic composition. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 66, 1257-1268.
60. van Zuilen, M.A., Lepland, A., and Arrhenius, G. (2002) Reassessing the evidence for the earliest traces of life. Nature 418, 627-630.
61. van Zuilen, M.A., Lepland, A., Teranes, J., Finarelli, J., Wahlen, M., and Arrhenius, G. (2003) Graphite and carbonates in the 3.8-Ga-old Isua Supracrustal Belt, southern West Greenland. Precambrian Res. 126, 331-348.
62. Vidal, G. and Moczydlowska-Vidal, M. (1997) Biodiversity, speciation, and extinction trends of Proterozoic and Cambrian phytoplankton. Paleobiology 23, 230-246.
63. Walsh, M.M. and Lowe, D.R. (1985) Filamentous microfossils from the 3,500-myr-old Onverwacht Group, Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa. Nature 314, 530-532.
64. Wang, K.Y., Li, J.L., Hao, J., Li, J.H., and Zhou, S.P. (1996) The Wutaishan orogenic belt within the Shanxi Province, northern China: a record of late Archaean collision tectonics. Precambrian Res. 78, 95-103.
65. Wang, K.Y., Hao, J., Wilde, S., and Cawood, P. (2000) Reconsideration of some key geological problems of late Archean-early Proterozoic in the Wutaishan-Hengshan area: constraints from SHRIMP U-Pb zircon data. Scientia Geologica Sinica 35, 175-184.
66. Weis, P.L., Friedman, I., and Gleason, J.P. (1981) The origin of epigenetic graphite: evidence from isotopes. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 45, 2325-2332.
67. Wilde, S.A., Cawood, P., Wang, K.Y., and Nemchin, A. (1997) The relationship and timing of granitoid evolution with respect to felsic volcanism in the Wutai Complex, North China Craton. Proceedings of the 30th International Geological Conference: Precambrian Geology and Metamorphic Petrology 17, 75-88.
68. Wilde, S.A., Cawood, P.A., Wang, K.Y., Nemchin, A., and Zhao, G.C. (2004a) Determining Precambrian crustal evolution in China: a case-study from Wutaishan, Shanxi Province, demonstrating the application of precise SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology. In Aspects of the Tectonic Evolution of China, Special Publication 226, edited by J. Malpas, C.J.N. Fletcher, J.R. Ali, and J.C. Aitchison, Geological Society of London, London, pp. 5-25.
69. Wilde, S.A., Zhao, G.C., Wang, K.Y., and Sun, M. (2004b) First SHRIMP zircon U-Pb ages for Hutuo Group in Wutaishan: Further evidence for palaeoproterozoic amalgamation of North China Craton. Chin. Sci. Bull. 49, 83-90.
70. Wilde, S.A., Cawood, P.A., Wang, K.Y., and Nemchin, A.A. (2005) Granitoid evolution in the Late Archaean Wutai Complex, North China Craton. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 24, 597-613.
71. Wopenka, B. and Pasteris, J.D. (1993) Structural characterization of kerogens to granulite-facies graphite: applicability of Raman microprobe spectroscopy. Am. Mineral. 78, 533-557.
72. Xiao, S., Knoll, A.H., Kaufman, A.J., Yin, L., and Zhang, Y. (1997) Neoproterozoic fossils in Mesoproterozoic rocks? Chemostratigraphic resolution of a biostratigraphic conundrum from the North China Platform. Precambrian Res. 84, 197-220.
73. Yuan, G.P. and Zhang, R.Y. (1993) The structural environment of the paleorift in Wutai greenstone belt. Shanxi Geology 8, 21-28.
74. Zang, W.-L. (2007) Deposition and deformation of late Archaean sediments and preservation of microfossils in the Harris Greenstone Domain, Gawler Craton, South Australia. Precambrian Res. 156, 107-124.
75. Zhao, G., Cawood, P., and Lu, L. (1999) Petrology and P-T history of the Wutai amphibolites: implications for tectonic evolution of the Wutai Complex, China. Precambrian Res. 93, 181-199.
76. Zhao, G., Sun, M., Wilde, S.A., and Guo, J. (2004) Late Archean to Paleoproterozoic evolution of the Trans-North China Orogen: insights from synthesis of existing data from the Hengshan-Wutai-Fuping belt. In Aspects of the Tectonic Evolution of China, Special Publication 226. edited by J. Malpas, C.J.N. Fletcher, J.R. Ali, and J.C. Aitchison, Geological Society of London, London, pp. 27-55.