A light carbon reservoir recorded in zircon-hosted diamond from the Jack Hills

Alexander A. Nemchin (), Martin J. Whitehouse, Martina Menneken, Thorsten Geisler, Robert T. Pidgeon and Simon A. Wilde
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Alexander A. Nemchin: Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
Martin J. Whitehouse: Laboratory for Isotope Geology, Swedish Museum of Natural History
Martina Menneken: Institut für Mineralogie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Corrensstrasse 24, 48149 Münster, Germany
Thorsten Geisler: Institut für Mineralogie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Corrensstrasse 24, 48149 Münster, Germany
Robert T. Pidgeon: Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia
Simon A. Wilde: Western Australian School of Mines, Curtin University of Technology, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia

Nature, 2008, vol. 454, issue 7200, 92-95

Abstract: An early carbon reservoir The recent discovery of diamond and graphite inclusions in zircon grains formed over 4 billion years ago in the Jack Hills meta-sedimentary belt in Western Australia has given geologists a glimpse of Earth's earliest known carbon reservoir. New ion microprobe analyses of the carbon isotope composition of these inclusions reveal low carbon isotopic ratios, which could reflect deep subduction of biogenic surface carbon. Though this is not unambiguous evidence for life on Earth as early as 4,250 million years ago, as low carbon isotope values can also be produced by certain inorganic chemical reactions.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07102

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