Organo-mineral associations in chert of the 3.5 Ga Mount Ada Basalt raise questions about the origin of organic matter in Paleoarchean hydrothermally influenced sediments.

ABSTRACT: Hydrothermal and metamorphic processes could have abiotically produced organo-mineral associations displaying morphological and isotopic characteristics similar to those of fossilized microorganisms in ancient rocks, thereby leaving false-positive evidence for early life in the geological record. Recent studies revealed that geologically-induced alteration processes do not always completely obliterate all molecular information about the original organic precursors of ancient microfossils. Here, we report the molecular, geochemical, and mineralogical composition of organo-mineral associations in a chert sample from the ca. 3.47 billion-year-old (Ga) Mount Ada Basalt, in the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Our observations indicate that the molecular characteristics of carbonaceous matter

SUBMITTER: Alleon J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6853986 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature