Challenges in evidencing the earliest traces of life

Organic geochemical approaches to understanding early life

(2019) Julien Alleon et al.   FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Cyanobacteria evolution: Insight from the fossil record

(2019) Catherine F. Demoulin et al.   FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

Early fungi from the Proterozoic era in Arctic Canada

(2019) Corentin C. Loron et al.   NATURE

Volcanogenic Pseudo-Fossils from the ∼3.48 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia

(2018) David Wacey et al.   ASTROBIOLOGY

Remarkably preserved tephra from the 3430 Ma Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia: Implications for the interpretation of Precambrian microfossils

(2018) David Wacey et al.   EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS

The Paleoproterozoic fossil record: Implications for the evolution of the biosphere during Earth's middle-age

(2018) Emmanuelle J. Javaux et al.   EARTH-SCIENCE REVIEWS

A morphogram for silica-witherite biomorphs and its application to microfossil identification in the early earth rock record

(2018) J. Rouillard et al.   Geobiology

Changes of aliphatic C-H bonds in cyanobacteria during experimental thermal maturation in the presence or absence of silica as evaluated by FTIR microspectroscopy

(2018) Motoko Igisu et al.   Geobiology

Spatially-resolved isotopic study of carbon trapped in ∼3.43 Ga Strelley Pool Formation stromatolites

(2018) David T. Flannery et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Microbial life and biogeochemical cycling on land 3,220 million years ago

(2018) Martin Homann et al.   Nature Geoscience

Assessing the diversity of lipids formed via Fischer-Tropsch-type reactions

(2018) Helge Mißbach et al.   ORGANIC GEOCHEMISTRY

Most ancient evidence for life in the Barberton greenstone belt: Microbial mats and biofabrics of the ∼3.47 Ga Middle Marker horizon

(2018) Keyron Hickman-Lewis et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

A crystallographic study of crystalline casts and pseudomorphs from the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton (Australia)

(2018) Fermin Otálora et al.   JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY

A Field Guide to Finding Fossils on Mars

(2018) S. McMahon et al.   JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-PLANETS

Extreme 13C-depletions and organic sulfur content argue for S-fueled anaerobic methane oxidation in 2.72 Ga old stromatolites

(2018) Kevin Lepot et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Proposed early signs of life not set in stone

(2018) Mark A. van Zuilen   NATURE

Reassessing evidence of life in 3,700-million-year-old rocks of Greenland

(2018) Abigail C. Allwood et al.   NATURE

Abiotic formation of condensed carbonaceous matter in the hydrating oceanic crust

(2018) Marie Catherine Sforna et al.   Nature Communications

New record of organic-walled, morphologically distinct microfossils from the late Paleoproterozoic Changcheng Group in the Yanshan Range, North China

(2018) Lanyun Miao et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

Experimental precipitation of apatite pseudofossils resembling fossil embryos

(2017) C. H. Crosby et al.   Geobiology

Environmental niches and metabolic diversity in Neoarchean lakes

(2017) E. E. Stüeken et al.   Geobiology

Differential metamorphic effects on nitrogen isotopes in kerogen extracts and bulk rocks

(2017) Eva E. Stüeken et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Early trace of life from 3.95 Ga sedimentary rocks in Labrador, Canada

(2017) Takayuki Tashiro et al.   NATURE

Elements of Eoarchean life trapped in mineral inclusions

(2017) T. Hassenkam et al.   NATURE

Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates

(2017) Matthew S. Dodd et al.   NATURE

Large and robust lenticular microorganisms on the young Earth

(2017) Dorothy Z. Oehler et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

An anaerobic ∼3400 Ma shallow-water microbial consortium: Presumptive evidence of Earth’s Paleoarchean anoxic atmosphere

(2017) J. William Schopf et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

Iron Isotope Systematics

(2017) Nicolas Dauphas et al.   Reviews in Mineralogy & Geochemistry

Iron minerals within specific microfossil morphospecies of the 1.88 Ga Gunflint Formation

(2017) Kevin Lepot et al.   Nature Communications

Experimental maturation of Archaea encrusted by Fe-phosphates

(2017) J. Miot et al.   Scientific Reports

Organic molecular heterogeneities can withstand diagenesis

(2017) Julien Alleon et al.   Scientific Reports

Biogenic overgrowth on detrital pyrite in ca. 3.2 Ga Archean paleosols

(2016) Sami Nabhan et al.   GEOLOGY

3.46 Ga Apex chert ‘microfossils’ reinterpreted as mineral artefacts produced during phyllosilicate exfoliation

(2016) David Wacey et al.   GONDWANA RESEARCH

Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures

(2016) Allen P. Nutman et al.   NATURE

Life: the first two billion years

(2016) Andrew H. Knoll et al.   PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Carbonaceous microstructures from sedimentary laminated chert within the 3.46 Ga Apex Basalt, Chinaman Creek locality, Pilbara, Western Australia

(2016) Keyron Hickman-Lewis et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

Microstructure-specific carbon isotopic signatures of organic matter from ∼3.5 Ga cherts of the Pilbara Craton support a biologic origin

(2016) Navot Morag et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

Self-assembly of biomorphic carbon/sulfur microstructures in sulfidic environments

(2016) Julie Cosmidis et al.   Nature Communications

Molecular preservation of 1.88 Ga Gunflint organic microfossils as a function of temperature and mineralogy

(2016) Julien Alleon et al.   Nature Communications

Microbial diversity: The tree of life comes of age

(2016) Anja Spang et al.   Nature Microbiology

A new view of the tree of life

(2016) Laura A. Hug et al.   Nature Microbiology

Early evolution of large micro-organisms with cytological complexity revealed by microanalyses of 3.4 Ga organic-walled microfossils

(2015) K. Sugitani et al.   Geobiology

Limited influence of Si on the preservation of Fe mineral-encrusted microbial cells during experimental diagenesis

(2015) A. Picard et al.   Geobiology

Archean (3.33 Ga) microbe-sediment systems were diverse and flourished in a hydrothermal context

(2015) Frances Westall et al.   GEOLOGY

Isotopic evidence for biological nitrogen fixation by molybdenum-nitrogenase from 3.2 Gyr

(2015) Eva E. Stüeken et al.   NATURE

Micro-scale quadruple sulfur isotope analysis of pyrite from the ∼3480Ma Dresser Formation: New insights into sulfur cycling on the early Earth

(2015) David Wacey et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH

Reappraisal of hydrocarbon biomarkers in Archean rocks

(2015) Katherine L. French et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon

(2015) Elizabeth A. Bell et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Graphitic Carbons and Biosignatures

(2014) S. Bernard et al.   Elements

Multiple sulfur isotopes fractionations associated with abiotic sulfur transformations in Yellowstone National Park geothermal springs

(2014) Alexey Kamyshny et al.   GEOCHEMICAL TRANSACTIONS

Evidence for arsenic metabolism and cycling by microorganisms 2.7 billion years ago

(2014) Marie Catherine Sforna et al.   Nature Geoscience

Reassessing the biogenicity of Earth's oldest trace fossil with implications for biosignatures in the search for early life

(2014) E. G. Grosch et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

The Meaning of Stromatolites

(2013) Tanja Bosak et al.   Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences

Experimental Simulation of Evaporation-Driven Silica Sinter Formation and Microbial Silicification in Hot Spring Systems

(2013) François Orange et al.   ASTROBIOLOGY

Biological Fe oxidation controlled deposition of banded iron formation in the ca. 3770Ma Isua Supracrustal Belt (West Greenland)

(2013) Andrew D. Czaja et al.   EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS

Texture-specific isotopic compositions in 3.4Gyr old organic matter support selective preservation in cell-like structures

(2013) Kevin Lepot et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Structural characterization by Raman hyperspectral mapping of organic carbon in the 3.46 billion-year-old Apex chert, Western Australia

(2013) M.C. Sforna et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Carbon isotopic analyses of ca. 3.0 Ga microstructures imply planktonic autotrophs inhabited Earth’s early oceans

(2013) C.H. House et al.   GEOLOGY

Comment on “Biogenicity of Earth's earliest fossils: A resolution of the controversy” by J. W. Schopf and A. B. Kudryavtsev, Gondwana Research, Volume 22, Issue 3–4, Pages 761–771

(2013) Alison Olcott Marshall et al.   GONDWANA RESEARCH

Biogenicity of Earth's earliest fossils: A resolution of the controversy

(2012) J. William Schopf et al.   GONDWANA RESEARCH

Bacterial Colony from Two-Dimensional Division to Three-Dimensional Development

(2012) Pin-Tzu Su et al.   PLoS One

Sulfur isotopes of organic matter preserved in 3.45-billion-year-old stromatolites reveal microbial metabolism

(2012) T. R. R. Bontognali et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Iron and carbon isotope evidence for microbial iron respiration throughout the Archean

(2011) Paul R. Craddock et al.   EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS

Biogenic versus metamorphic origins of diverse microtubes in 2.7Gyr old volcanic ashes: Multi-scale investigations

(2011) Kevin Lepot et al.   EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS

Diversity in the Archean Biosphere: New Insights from NanoSIMS

(2010) Dorothy Z. Oehler et al.   ASTROBIOLOGY

Stromatolites in the ∼3400 Ma Strelley Pool Formation, Western Australia: Examining Biogenicity from the Macro- to the Nano-Scale

(2010) David Wacey   ASTROBIOLOGY

Early life: Ancient acritarchs

(2010) Roger Buick   NATURE

Organic-walled microfossils in 3.2-billion-year-old shallow-marine siliciclastic deposits

(2010) Emmanuelle J. Javaux et al.   NATURE

Trace elements record depositional history of an Early Archean stromatolitic carbonate platform

(2009) Abigail C. Allwood et al.   CHEMICAL GEOLOGY

Chemical synthesis of biomimetic forms

(2009) Jacques Livage   COMPTES RENDUS PALEVOL

Biological activity and the Earth's surface evolution: Insights from carbon, sulfur, nitrogen and iron stable isotopes in the rock record

(2009) Christophe Thomazo et al.   COMPTES RENDUS PALEVOL

Evaluating the role of microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archean using quadruple isotope systematics

(2009) Yanan Shen et al.   EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS

Organic matter heterogeneities in 2.72Ga stromatolites: Alteration versus preservation by sulfur incorporation

(2009) Kevin Lepot et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

An early ecosystem of Archean tidal microbial mats (Moodies Group, South Africa, ca. 3.2 Ga)

(2009) Christoph Heubeck   GEOLOGY

Hydrothermal alteration and microfossil artefacts of the 3,465-million-year-old Apex chert

(2009) Daniele L. Pinti et al.   Nature Geoscience

Controls on development and diversity of Early Archean stromatolites

(2009) A. C. Allwood et al.   PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Growth of synthetic stromatolites and wrinkle structures in the absence of microbes – implications for the early fossil record

(2008) N. MCLOUGHLIN et al.   Geobiology

Quadruple sulfur isotope analysis of ca. 3.5Ga Dresser Formation: New evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archean

(2008) Yuichiro Ueno et al.   GEOCHIMICA ET COSMOCHIMICA ACTA

Geological setting of Earth's oldest fossils in the ca. 3.5Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

(2008) M VANKRANENDONK et al.   PRECAMBRIAN RESEARCH