Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection [electronic resource] /
Golding, Suzanne D.editor.
Glikson, Miryam.editor.
This volume integrates the latest findings on earliest life forms, identified and characterised in some of the oldest rocks on Earth. New material from prominent researchers in the field is presented and evaluated in the context of previous work. Emphasis is placed on the integration of analytical methods with observational techniques and experimental simulations. The opening section focuses on submarine hot springs that the majority of researchers postulates served as the cradle of life on Earth. In subsequent sections, evidence for life in strongly metamorphosed rocks such as those in Greenland is evaluated and early ecosystems identified in the well preserved Barberton and Pilbara successions in Southern Africa and Western Australia. The final section includes a number of contributions from authors with alternate perspectives on the evidence and record of early life on Earth. Audience This volume will be valuable to researchers and graduate students in biogeosciences, geochemistry, paleontology and geology interested in the origin of life on earth.
Description based upon print version of record.
Earliest Life on Earth:Habitats, Environmentsand Methods of Detection; Preface; Contents; Contributors; Dedication to John F. Lindsay; Introduction; Earliest Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems on Earth: Comparison with Modern Analogues; Archaean Hydrothermal Systems in the Barberton Greenstone Belt and Their Significance as a Habitat for Early Life; Birth of Biomolecules from the Warm Wet Sheets of Clays Near Spreading Centers; Towards a Null Hypothesis for Stromatolites; Trace Element Geochemistry as a Tool for Interpreting Microbialites
A Modern Perspective on Ancient Life: Microbial Mats in Sandy Marine Settings from the Archean Era to TodayEarly Life Record from Nitrogen Isotopes; Integration of Observational and Analytical Methodologies to Characterize Organic Matter in Early Archaean Rocks: Distinguishin; Bugs or Gunk? Nanoscale Methods for Assessing the Biogenicity of Ancient Microfossils and Organic Matter; What Can Carbon Isotopes Tell Us About Sources of Reduced Carbon in Rocks from the Early Earth?; Erratum; Index
Includes bibliographical references.
This volume integrates the latest findings on earliest life forms, identified and characterised in some of the oldest rocks on Earth. New material from prominent researchers in the field is presented and evaluated in the context of previous work. Emphasis is placed on the integration of analytical methods with observational techniques and experimental simulations. The opening section focuses on submarine hot springs that the majority of researchers postulates served as the cradle of life on Earth. In subsequent sections, evidence for life in strongly metamorphosed rocks such as those in Greenland is evaluated and early ecosystems identified in the well preserved Barberton and Pilbara successions in Southern Africa and Western Australia. The final section includes a number of contributions from authors with alternate perspectives on the evidence and record of early life on Earth. Audience This volume will be valuable to researchers and graduate students in biogeosciences, geochemistry, paleontology and geology interested in the origin of life on earth.
Geobiology.
Astrophysics.
Evolutionary biology.
Biogeosciences.
Astrophysics and Astroparticles.
Evolutionary Biology.