Questioning the evidence for Earth's earliest life - Akilia revisited

被引：70

作者：

Lepland, A

van Zuilen, MA

Arrhenius, G

Whitehouse, MJ

Fedo, CM

机构：

[1] Geol Survey Norway, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

[2] Tallinn Univ Technol, Inst Geol, EE-10243 Tallinn, Estonia

[3] CNRS, Ctr Rech Petrog & Geochim, F-54501 Vandoeuvre Les Nancy, France

[4] Univ Calif San Diego, Scripps Inst Oceanog, La Jolla, CA 92093 USA

[5] Swedish Museum Nat Hist, SE-10405 Stockholm, Sweden

[6] George Washington Univ, Dept Earth & Environm Sci, Washington, DC 20052 USA

来源：

GEOLOGY | 2005年 / 33卷 / 01期

关键词：

apatite; graphite; biomarkers; Archean; Greenland;

D O I：

10.1130/G20890.1

中图分类号：

P5 [地质学];

学科分类号：

0709 ; 081803 ;

摘要：

It has been argued that apatite crystals containing inclusions of isotopically light graphite in a quartz-pyroxene rock from the island of Akilia, southwest Greenland, represent the earliest (older than 3.85 Ga) traces of life on Earth. Although the age and protolith of this rock have been subjects of vigorous discussions, the occurrence of isotopically light graphite inclusions in Akillia apatite has so far not been debated in the literature. We present here the results of petrographic analysis of 17 different Akilia samples, including the actual sample (G91-26) used in the original study. Our finding that none of the apatite crystals in these samples contain graphite inclusions indicates that the Akilia apatite has no bearing on claims pertaining to a past record of life on Earth.

引用

页码：77 / 79

页数：3

共 19 条

[11] Vestiges of life in the oldest Greenland rocks?: A review of early Archean geology in the Godthabsfjord region, and reappraisal of field evidence for > 3850 Ma life on Akilia [J].