文章基本信息

标题：Inherited geochemical diversity of 3.4 Ga organic films from the Buck Reef Chert, South Africa
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作者：Julien Alleon ; Sylvain Bernard ; Nicolas Olivier 等
期刊名称：Communications Earth & Environment
电子版ISSN：2662-4435
出版年度：2021
卷号：2
期号：1
页码：1-7
DOI：10.1038/s43247-020-00066-7
语种：English
出版社：Nature Research
摘要：Archean rocks contain crucial information about the earliest life forms on Earth, but documenting these early stages of biological evolution remains challenging. The main issue lies in the geochemical transformations experienced by Archean organic matter through its multi-billion-year geological history. Here we present spatially resolved chemical investigations conducted on 3.4 Ga organic films from the Buck Reef Chert, South Africa which indicate that they possess significantly different chemical compositions. Since these organic films all underwent the same post-depositional geological history, this geochemical diversity is most likely inherited, reflecting original chemical differences which were not completely obliterated by subsequent burial-induced degradation processes. These results demonstrate that early Archean organic films carry chemical information directly related to their original molecular compositions. This paves the way for the reconstruction of the initial chemical nature of organic microfossils found in ancient rocks, provided that the geologically-induced chemical transformations they underwent are properly constrained. Information on the initial chemical nature of Archean organic materials can survive in rocks despite a complex geological history, according to spatially resolved chemical analyses of 3.4-billion-year old organic films.