Earliest signs of life on land preserved in ca. 3.5 Ga hot spring deposits

Tara Djokic (), Martin J. Van Kranendonk, Kathleen A. Campbell, Malcolm R. Walter and Colin R. Ward
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Tara Djokic: Australian Centre for Astrobiology, PANGEA Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales
Martin J. Van Kranendonk: Australian Centre for Astrobiology, PANGEA Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales
Kathleen A. Campbell: School of Environment, University of Auckland
Malcolm R. Walter: Australian Centre for Astrobiology, PANGEA Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales
Colin R. Ward: School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Australia

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract The ca. 3.48 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is well known for hosting some of Earth’s earliest convincing evidence of life (stromatolites, fractionated sulfur/carbon isotopes, microfossils) within a dynamic, low-eruptive volcanic caldera affected by voluminous hydrothermal fluid circulation. However, missing from the caldera model were surface manifestations of the volcanic-hydrothermal system (hot springs, geysers) and their unequivocal link with life. Here we present new discoveries of hot spring deposits including geyserite, sinter terracettes and mineralized remnants of hot spring pools/vents, all of which preserve a suite of microbial biosignatures indicative of the earliest life on land. These include stromatolites, newly observed microbial palisade fabric and gas bubbles preserved in inferred mineralized, exopolymeric substance. These findings extend the known geological record of inhabited terrestrial hot springs on Earth by ∼3 billion years and offer an analogue in the search for potential fossil life in ancient Martian hot springs.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15263

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