FN Archimer Export Format
PT J
TI Nano-porous pyrite and organic matter in 3.5-billion-year-old stromatolites record primordial life
BT 
AF BAUMGARTNER, Raphael J.
   VAN KRANENDONK, Martin J.
   WACEY, David
   FIORENTINI, Marco L.
   SAUNDERS, Martin
   CARUSO, Stefano
   PAGES, Anais
   HOMANN, Martin
   GUAGLIARDO, Paul
AS 1:1;2:1;3:2;4:3;5:2;6:3;7:4;8:5;9:3;
FF 1:;2:;3:;4:;5:;6:;7:;8:;9:;
C1 Univ New South Wales, Sch Biol Earth & Environm Sci, Australian Ctr Astrobiol, Kensington, NSW 2052, Australia.
   Univ Western Australia, Ctr Microscopy Characterizat & Anal, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
   Univ Western Australia, Sch Earth Sci, Ctr Explorat Targeting, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
   Commonwealth Sci & Ind Res Org, Mineral Resources, Kensington, WA 6151, Australia.
   CNRS, UMR6538, European Inst Marine Studies, Lab Geosci Ocean, Technopole Brest Iroise, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
C2 UNIV NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA
   UNIV WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA
   UNIV WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA
   CSIRO, AUSTRALIA
   CNRS, FRANCE
UM LGO
IF 4.768
TC 55
UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00637/74900/88233.pdf
LA English
DT Article
AB Stromatolites of the similar to 3.5 billion-year-old Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Western Australia) are considered to be some of Earth's earliest convincing evidence of life. However, uniquely biogenic interpretations based on surface outcrops are precluded by weathering, which has altered primary mineralogy and inhibited the preservation of microbial remains. Here, we report on exceptionally preserved, strongly sulfidized stromatolites obtained by diamond drilling from below the weathering profile. These stromatolites lie within undeformed hydrothermal-sedimentary strata and show textural features that are indicative of biogenic origins, including upward-broadening and/or upward-branching digitate forms, wavy to wrinkly laminae, and finely laminated columns that show a thickening of laminae over flexure crests. High-resolution textural, mineralogical, and chemical analysis reveals that the stromatolites are dominated by petrographically earliest, nano-porous pyrite that contains thermally mature, N-bearing organic matter (OM). This nano-porous pyrite is consistent with a formation via sulfidization of an originally OM-dominated matrix. Evidence for its relationship with microbial communities are entombed OM strands and filaments, whose microtexture and chemistry are consistent with an origin as mineralized biofilm remains, and carbon isotope data of extracted OM (delta C-13(OM) = -29.6 parts per thousand +/- 0.3 parts per thousand VPDB [Vienna Peedee belemnite]), which lie within the range of biological matter. Collectively, our findings provide exceptional evidence for the biogenicity of some of Earth's oldest stromatolites through preservation of OM, including microbial remains, by sulfidization. 
PY 2019
PD NOV
SO Geology
SN 0091-7613
PU Geological Soc Amer, Inc
VL 47
IS 11
UT 000491287900007
BP 1039
EP 1043
DI 10.1130/G46365.1
ID 74900
ER

EF