Changing the picture of Earth's earliest fossils (3.5-1.9 Ga) with new approaches and new discoveries.

ABSTRACT: New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of early fossil preservation. High-resolution analysis of Gunflintia shows that microtaphonomy can help to resolve long-standing paleobiological questions. Novel 3D nanoscale reconstructions of the most ancient complex fossil Eosphaera reveal features hitherto unmatched in any crown-group microbe. While Eosphaera may preserve a symbiotic consortium, a stronger conclusion is that multicellular morphospace was differently occupied in the Paleoproterozoic. The 3.46-Ga Apex chert provides a test bed for claims of biogenicity of cell-like structures. Mapping plus focused ion beam milling combined with transmission elect

SUBMITTER: Brasier MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4413290 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature