Theoretical origin of life; fossils fron 3.8 byo? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Wednesday, March 01, 2017, 22:39 (2824 days ago) @ David Turell

The latest finding in Canada:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/03/01/newfound-3-77-bil...

"The straw-shaped “microfossils,” narrower than the width of a human hair and invisible to the naked eye, are believed to come from ancient microbes, according to a new study in the journal Nature. Scientists debate the age of the specimens, but the authors' youngest estimate — 3.77 billion years — would make these fossils the oldest ever found.

"Claims of ancient fossils are always contentious. Rocks as old as the ones in the new study rarely survive the weathering, erosion, subduction and deformation of our geologically active Earth. Any signs of life in the rocks that do survive are difficult to distinguish, let alone prove. Other researchers in the field expressed skepticism about whether the structures were really fossils, and whether the rocks that contain them are as old as the study authors say.

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"The microfossils were discovered in rocks from the Nuvvuagittuq (nuh-vu-ah-gi-took) belt in northeastern Canada. This strip of iron-rich jasper now cuts across the eastern shore of Hudson Bay, but it was once a hydrothermal vent on the ocean floor. Billions of years ago, Dodd and his colleagues say, ancient microbes flourished around those vents, taking advantage of their chaotic chemistry to generate fuel.

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"The optical observations revealed complex fossil structures encased in hematite, a mineral that would have formed as iron in the seawater interacted with the microbe's decaying organic matter. John Slack, a co-author and emeritus scientist at the U.S. Geological Survey who studies jaspers from ancient hydrothermal vents, said the fossils look just like the ones he sees in younger rocks, and around modern-day vents.

"The Raman analysis, which measures the vibrations of atoms as they are struck by a laser to figure out what molecules a material contains, showed that the rocks contain carbonate, apatite and magnetite — minerals that often form in the presence of organic matter.

"Graphite in the rocks also contained telltale signs of life. The mineral disproportionately contained the isotope carbon-12, a form of the atom in which the nucleus has six protons and six neutrons. This form of carbon is preferred for biological processes and is considered an isotopic signature of life.

“'We can think of alternative explanations for each of these singular observations,” said Dodd, “but why all of these features occur together can really only be explained by one thing, which is a biological interpretation.”

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"'It’s a very exciting set of observations carefully made,” Williford wrote in an email. "… They may indeed have found something truly remarkable.”

"Findings like these are subject to intense scrutiny because they have potentially far-reaching implications for the study of early organisms on Earth and other planets. The oldest universally accepted evidence of life on Earth is dated to about 3.4 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. The new paper proposes pushing that date back by nearly 300 million years."

Comment: I have presented one other finding at the 4 byo period (2017-01-14,00:39). What is amazing is the Earth did not become hospitable for life, it is thought, until about 4 byo. If that is true and these findings are true, life appeared very quickly. More suggestive evidence that God did it.