Pushing Life’s Emergence Ever Deeper in Time
A team of researchers suggests life may have emerged far earlier than previously believed possible—perhaps as early as 300 million years aer Earth’s formation 4.54 billion years ago.
Writing in the journal Science Advances, a team led by Dominic Papineau (University College London) suggests microscopic twisting laments, tubes, and spheroids of hematite (iron oxide) in jasper rocks dated between 3.75 – 4.28 billion years old may be evidence of bacteria thriving around hydrothermal vents on an ancient seaoor. ey also found a centimeter-long stem with parallel tree-like branches on one side. e organic nature of the structures is further bolstered by the presence of sulfur. e supposed microbial fossils were found in ancient rock formations of what is called the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in the Canadian province of Quebec.
Where Papineau’s team sees evidence of a microbial community, others see inorganic mineral structures. For instance, Frances Westall (French National Center for Scientic Research) says it appears that the laments are following crystal lattices of the rocks and minerals hosting them and thus might simply be minerals heated and squeezed into their current shape during the metamorphic processes that created the Nuvvuagittuq Belt. Papineau’s team begs to dier, noting that the branching structure they found, in particular, was unlikely to have been craed by chemistry alone.