When did life first appear on Earth and what form did it take? The answer to this intriguing and fundamentally important question lies somewhere within theearly Archean rock record. The young Earth was, however, a very different place to that we know today and numerous pitfalls await our interpretation of these most ancient rocks. The first half of this practical guide equips the reader with the background knowledge to successfully evaluate new potentially biological finds from the Archean rock record. Successive steps are covered, from locating promising samples in the field, through standard petrography and evaluation of antiquity and biogenicity criteria, to the latest state of the art geochemical techniques. The second half of the guide uniquely brings together all the materials that have been claimed to comprise the earliest fossil record into an easily accessible, fully illustrated format. The main aim is to draw attention to the remarkable number of highly interesting candidate structures in the quest to decode the earliest evidence for life on Earth Will cover the Victorian Eozoon controversy, the ongoing stromatolite debate, and the recent Apex microfossil debate Features a large number of geochemical high resolution illustrations including thin section photomicrographs, field outcrop photographs and scanning electron microscope images including detailed descriptions andbalanced interpretations of the structures so that the reader can compare andcontrast INDICE: Fromt he contents Acknowledgments. Setting the scene, an introduction. Milestones in the search for early life on Earth. The Eozoon debate and the ‘Foraminosphere’. The Cyanosphere, phase 1. The Cyanosphere, phase 2. Implications. Recommended reading. Part A: Investigating life in early Archean rocks. 1. What can we expect to find in the earliest rock record? 2. The difficulties of decoding early life. 3. Establishing the criteria for early life on Earth. 4. Fulfilling the criteria for early life on Earth. 5. Techniques for investigating early life on Earth. Part B: An atlas of claims for early Archean life. Index.
- ISBN: 978-1-4020-9388-3
- Editorial: Springer
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Páginas: 270
- Fecha Publicación: 01/02/2009
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés