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Biogenicity of Earth’s Earliest Fossils

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Evolution of Archean Crust and Early Life

Part of the book series: Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences ((MASE,volume 7))

Abstract

The abundant and diverse assemblage of filamentous microbial fossils and associated organic matter permineralized in the ~ 3465 Ma Apex chert of northwestern Australia—widely regarded as among the oldest records of life—have been investigated intensively. First reported in 1987 and formally described in 1992 and 1993, the biogenicity of the Apex fossils was questioned in 2002 and in three subsequent reports. However, as is shown here by use of analytical techniques unavailable twenty years ago, the Apex filaments are now established to be bona fide fossil microbes composed of three-dimensionally cylindrical organic-walled (kerogenous) cells. Backed by a large body of supporting evidence of similar age—other microfossils, stromatolites, and carbon isotopic data—it seems clear that microbial life was present and flourishing on the early Earth ~ 3500 Ma ago.

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Abbreviations

CLSM:

Confocal laser scanning microscopy

ELNES:

Electron loss near-edge structure spectroscopy

HOPG:

Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite

PAH:

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon

SIMS:

Secondary ion mass spectroscopy

STXM:

Synchrotron-based scanning-transmission X-ray microscopy

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

XANES:

STXM-based X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy

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Acknowledgements

This paper, invited by the editors of this volume, is a slightly altered recast version of an invited review article published in Gondwana Research (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gr.2012.07.003), here reprinted with permission from Elsevier. For helpful comments, we thank Malcolm R. Walter, J. Shen-Miller, Ian Foster, Sean Loyd, and the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, 90095, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Prof. J. William Schopf & Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev

  2. Center for the Study of Evolution and the Origin of Life, University of California, 90095, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev

  3. NAI PennState Astrobiology Research Center, 16802, University Park, PA, USA

    Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev

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  1. Prof. J. William Schopf
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  2. Anatoliy B. Kudryavtsev
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Correspondence to J. William Schopf .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Geology & Environmental Earth Science, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA

    Yildirim Dilek

  2. Department of Earth Science & Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Harald Furnes

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Schopf, J., Kudryavtsev, A. (2014). Biogenicity of Earth’s Earliest Fossils. In: Dilek, Y., Furnes, H. (eds) Evolution of Archean Crust and Early Life. Modern Approaches in Solid Earth Sciences, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7615-9_11

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