Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection

  • Book
  • © 2011

Overview

Editors:
  1. Suzanne D. Golding

    1. Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Miryam Glikson

    1. Palmwoods, Australia

    View editor publications

    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • Takes the reader to the habitats of the most ancient preserved organisms on earth
  • Shows how we can identify early life forms from their physical and chemical remains
  • Determines what these early life forms and ecosystems were like
  • Compares early life forms with existing species today in similar niche environments
  • Presents some alternative perspectives on the biogenic/abiogenic origins of some very ancient carbonaceous matter
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Log in via an institution
eBook USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xvi
    Download chapter PDF

  2. SUBMARINE HOT SPRINGS AND VENTING ENVIRONMENTS - CRADLE OF LIFE

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 13-13
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Introduction

      • Miryam Glikson, Suzanne D. Golding
      Pages 1-11

    3. Earliest Seafloor Hydrothermal Systems on Earth: Comparison with Modern Analogues

      • Suzanne D. Golding, Lawrence J. Duck, Elisa Young, Kim A. Baublys, Miryam Glikson, Balz S. Kamber
      Pages 15-49

    4. Archaean Hydrothermal Systems in the Barberton Greenstone Belt and Their Significance as a Habitat for Early Life

      • Axel Hofmann
      Pages 51-78

    5. Birth of Biomolecules from the Warm Wet Sheets of Clays Near Spreading Centers

      • Lynda B. Williams, John R. Holloway, Brandon Canfield, Christopher R. Glein, Jeffrey M. Dick, Hilairy E. Hartnett et al.
      Pages 79-112

  3. EVIDENCE AND RECORD OF EARLIEST LIFE ON EARTH

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 113-113
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Towards a Null Hypothesis for Stromatolites

      • Martin D. Brasier
      Pages 115-125

    3. Trace Element Geochemistry as a Tool for Interpreting Microbialites

      • Gregory E. Webb, Balz S. Kamber
      Pages 127-170

    4. A Modern Perspective on Ancient Life: Microbial Mats in Sandy Marine Settings from the Archean Era to Today

      • Nora Noffke
      Pages 171-182

    5. Early Life Record from Nitrogen Isotopes

      • Daniele L. Pinti, Ko Hashizume
      Pages 183-205

  4. Distinguishing Biological From Abiotically Synthesized Organic Matter in the Early Archean

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 207-207
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Integration of Observational and Analytical Methodologies to Characterize Organic Matter in Early Archaean Rocks: Distinguishing Biological from Abiotically Synthesized Carbonaceous Matter Structures

      • Miryam Glikson, Arthur H. Hickman, Lawrence J. Duck, Suzanne D. Golding, Robyn E. Webb
      Pages 209-237

    3. Bugs or Gunk? Nanoscale Methods for Assessing the Biogenicity of Ancient Microfossils and Organic Matter

      • Bradley T. De Gregorio, Thomas G. Sharp, Ahmed I. Rushdi, Bernd R. T. Simoneit
      Pages 239-289

    4. What Can Carbon Isotopes Tell Us About Sources of Reduced Carbon in Rocks from the Early Earth?

      • Thomas M. McCollom
      Pages 291-311

    5. Erratum to: Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection

      • Suzanne D. Golding, Miryam Glikson
      Pages E1-E1

  5. Back Matter

    Pages 313-316
    Download chapter PDF
Back to top

Keywords

About this book

This volume integrates the latest findings on earliest life forms, identified and characterised in some of the oldest rocks on Earth. New material from prominent researchers in the field is presented and evaluated in the context of previous work. Emphasis is placed on the integration of analytical methods with observational techniques and experimental simulations. The opening section focuses on submarine hot springs that the majority of researchers postulates served as the cradle of life on Earth. In subsequent sections, evidence for life in strongly metamorphosed rocks such as those in Greenland is evaluated and early ecosystems identified in the well preserved Barberton and Pilbara successions in Southern Africa and Western Australia. The final section includes a number of contributions from authors with alternate perspectives on the evidence and record of early life on Earth.

Audience
This volume will be valuable to researchers and graduate students in biogeosciences, geochemistry, paleontology and geology interested in the origin of life on earth.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Suzanne D. Golding

  • Palmwoods, Australia

    Miryam Glikson

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection

  • Editors: Suzanne D. Golding, Miryam Glikson

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8794-2

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental Science, Earth and Environmental Science (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-481-8793-5Published: 23 September 2010

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-007-8970-8Published: 23 November 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-90-481-8794-2Published: 02 September 2010

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 316

  • Topics: Biogeosciences, Astrophysics and Astroparticles, Evolutionary Biology

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Back to top

Search

Navigation