| Autor: |
Mißbach H; Geobiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. helge.missbach@uni-koeln.de.; Geobiology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. helge.missbach@uni-koeln.de., Duda JP; Geobiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.; 'Origin of Life' Group, Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Göttingen, Germany.; Sedimentology & Organic Geochemistry, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany., van den Kerkhof AM; Applied Geology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany., Lüders V; GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, Germany., Pack A; Isotope Geology Divison, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany., Reitner J; Geobiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.; 'Origin of Life' Group, Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Göttingen, Germany., Thiel V; Geobiology, University of Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. |
| Abstrakt: |
It is widely hypothesised that primeval life utilised small organic molecules as sources of carbon and energy. However, the presence of such primordial ingredients in early Earth habitats has not yet been demonstrated. Here we report the existence of indigenous organic molecules and gases in primary fluid inclusions in c. 3.5-billion-year-old barites (Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia). The compounds identified (e.g., H 2 S, COS, CS 2 , CH 4 , acetic acid, organic (poly-)sulfanes, thiols) may have formed important substrates for purported ancestral sulfur and methanogenic metabolisms. They also include stable building blocks of methyl thioacetate (methanethiol, acetic acid) - a putative key agent in primordial energy metabolism and thus the emergence of life. Delivered by hydrothermal fluids, some of these compounds may have fuelled microbial communities associated with the barite deposits. Our findings demonstrate that early Archaean hydrothermal fluids contained essential primordial ingredients that provided fertile substrates for earliest life on our planet. |
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