Definition
Syngenicity means a feature that may be textural, chemical, mineral, or biological and that formed at the same time as the encapsulating material. In other words, a primary component is preserved contemporaneously with the deposition of the host sedimentary rock, or crystallization of the host igneous melt, or precipitation of the encapsulating mineral or ice phase(s). The demonstration of syngenicity is equivalent to the demonstration of antiquity, and this is essential to establish the history of life in our universe.
History
In economic geology, the term syngenetic has traditionally been used to refer to ore deposits formed at the same time as the enclosing rock as opposed to epigenetic that describes mineral deposits formed later. Here a definition is provided that is more generally applicable to the investigation of astrobiological materials including not just terrestrial rocks and minerals but also meteorites, interplanetary dust, and ice particles.
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References and Further Reading
Appel PWU, Moorbath S, Myers JS (2003) Isuasphaera isua (Pflug) revisited. Precambrian Res 126:309–312
Grosch EG, Mcloughlin N (2014) Reassessing the biogenicity of Earth’s oldest trace fossil with implications for biosignatures in the search for early life. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, 8380–8385
Wacey (2009) Establishing the criteria for early life on Earth. In: Wacey (ed) Early life on Earth; a practical guide, Springer, pp 47–54
Westall F, Folk RL (2003) Exogenous carbonaceous microstructures in early Archaean cherts and BIFs from the Isua Greenstone belt: implications for the search for life in ancient rocks. Precambrian Res 123:313–330
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McLoughlin, N. (2015). Syngenicity. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1558
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1558
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