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Bassez MP. The Possible Role of Anoxic Alkaline High Subcritical Water in the Formation of Ferric Minerals, Methane and Disordered Graphitic Carbon in a BARB3 Drilled Sample of the 3.4 Ga Buck Reef Chert. ORIGINS LIFE EVOL B 2023; 53:1-41. [PMID: 37584846 DOI: 10.1007/s11084-023-09638-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Accepted: 05/18/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023]
Abstract
The present article reports Raman spectroscopic observations of siderite, hematite, disordered graphitic carbon and possibly greenalite inside the quartz matrix of a banded iron sample from the BARB3 core drilled inside the 3.4 Ga Buck Reef Chert of the Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The article also reports Raman spectroscopic observations of quartz cavities, concluding in the presence of water, methane and sodium hydroxide at high concentration leading to pH ~ 15 inside the inclusion, suggesting an Archean water which was strongly basic. FeIII-greenalite may also be present inside the inclusion. The possible role of anoxic alkaline high subcritical water in the formation of ferric minerals and the CO required for the synthesis of molecules of biological interest has been demonstrated theoretically since 2013 and summarized in the concept of Geobiotropy. The present article experimentally confirms the importance of considering water in its anoxic strongly alkaline high subcritical domain for the formation of quartz, hematite, FeIII-greenalite, methane and disordered graphitic carbon. Methane is proposed to form locally when the carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the Archean anoxic alkaline high subcritical water, interacts with the molecular hydrogen that is emitted during the anoxic alkaline oxidation of ferrous silicates. The carbon matter is proposed to form as deposition from the anoxic methane-rich fluid. A detailed study of carbon matter from diverse origins is presented in a supplementary file. The study shows that the BARB3_23B sample has been submitted to ~ 335 °C, a temperature of the high subcritical domain, and that the graphitic structure contains very low amounts of oxygen and no hydroxyl functional groups. The importance of considering the structure of water is applied to the constructions of the Neoproterozoic and Archean banded iron formations. It is proposed that their minerals are produced inside chemical reaction chambers containing ferrous silicates, and ejected from the Earth's oceanic crust or upper mantle, during processes involving subduction events or not.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Paule Bassez
- University of Strasbourg, Jean-Marie Lehn Foundation, Strasbourg, France.
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Delarue F, Rouzaud JN, Derenne S, Bourbin M, Westall F, Kremer B, Sugitani K, Deldicque D, Robert F. The Raman-Derived Carbonization Continuum: A Tool to Select the Best Preserved Molecular Structures in Archean Kerogens. ASTROBIOLOGY 2016; 16:407-417. [PMID: 27186810 PMCID: PMC4900230 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2015.1392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2015] [Accepted: 12/23/2015] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
UNLABELLED The search for indisputable traces of life in Archean cherts is of prime importance. However, their great age and metamorphic history pose constraints on the study of molecular biomarkers. We propose a quantitative criterion to document the thermal maturity of organic matter in rocks in general, and Archean rocks in particular. This is definitively required to select the best candidates for seeking non-altered sample remnants of life. Analysis of chemical (Raman spectroscopy, (13)C NMR, elemental analysis) and structural (HRTEM) features of Archean and non-Archean carbonaceous matter (CM) that was submitted to metamorphic grades lower than, or equal to, that of greenschist facies showed that these features had all undergone carbonization but not graphitization. Raman-derived quantitative parameters from the present study and from literature spectra, namely, R1 ratio and FWHM-D1, were used to draw a carbonization continuum diagram showing two carbonization stages. While non-Archean samples can be seen to dominate the first stage, the second stage mostly consists of the Archean samples. In this diagram, some Archean samples fall at the boundary with non-Archean samples, which thus demonstrates a low degree of carbonization when compared to most Archean CM. As a result, these samples constitute candidates that may contain preserved molecular signatures of Archean CM. Therefore, with regard to the search for the oldest molecular traces of life on Earth, we propose the use of this carbonization continuum diagram to select the Archean CM samples. KEY WORDS Archean-Early life-Kerogen-Raman spectroscopy-Carbonization. Astrobiology 16, 407-417.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Delarue
- IMPMC Sorbonne Universités—MNHN, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7590, IRD UMR 206, Paris, France
| | | | - Sylvie Derenne
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 7619 METIS, CC 105, Paris, France
| | - Mathilde Bourbin
- Sorbonne Universités, UPMC Univ Paris 06, CNRS, UMR 7619 METIS, CC 105, Paris, France
| | - Frances Westall
- Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, UPR CNRS 4301, Orléans, France
| | - Barbara Kremer
- Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warszawa, Poland
| | - Kenichiro Sugitani
- Department of Environmental Engineering and Architecture, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan
| | | | - François Robert
- IMPMC Sorbonne Universités—MNHN, UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR CNRS 7590, IRD UMR 206, Paris, France
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Gourier D, Delpoux O, Binet L, Vezin H. Nuclear magnetic biosignatures in the carbonaceous matter of ancient cherts: comparison with carbonaceous meteorites. ASTROBIOLOGY 2013; 13:932-947. [PMID: 24093546 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2013.0971] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
The search for organic biosignatures is motivated by the hope of understanding the conditions of emergence of life on Earth and the perspective of finding traces of extinct life in martian sediments. Paramagnetic radicals, which exist naturally in amorphous carbonaceous matter fossilized in Precambrian cherts, were used as local structural probes and studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The nuclear magnetic resonance transitions of elements inside and around these radicals were detected by monitoring the nuclear modulations of electron spin echo in pulsed EPR. We found that the carbonaceous matter of fossilized microorganisms with age up to 3.5 billion years gives specific nuclear magnetic signatures of hydrogen (¹H), carbon (¹³C), and phosphorus (³¹P) nuclei. We observed that these potential biosignatures of extinct life are found neither in the carbonaceous matter of carbonaceous meteorites (4.56 billion years), the most ancient objects of the Solar System, nor in any carbonaceous matter resulting from carbonization of organic and bioorganic precursors. These results indicate that these nuclear signatures are sensitive to thermal episodes and can be used for Archean cherts with metamorphism not higher than the greenschist facies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Didier Gourier
- 1 TGE Réseau National de RPE interdisciplinaire (RENARD, FR-CNRS 3443)
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