TY - JOUR
T1 - Carbon isotopic signatures of individual Archean microfossils(?) from Western Australia
AU - Ueno, Yuichiro
AU - Isozaki, Yukio
AU - Yurimoto, Hisayoshi
AU - Maruyama, Shigenori
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank M. Terabayashi, Y. Kato, T. Kabash-ima, and K. Kitajima for considerable assistance in the field work, and the field collaboration with A. Thorne and A. H. Hickman was helpful and much appreciated. S. J. Mojzsis critically reviewed an early draft of the manuscript. We thank B. F. Wind-ley and C. Parkinson for corrections to English exposition, and H. Yamamoto for providing photomicrographs of bacteria. This research was supported by the Ministry of Culture and Education of Japan (International Scientific Research Program; field research nos. 06041038 and 08041102 and Intensified Study Area Program, no. 259, 1995-1997).
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - New types of carbonaceous filamentous microstructures have been identified in silica veins at two new localities in the ˜3.5 Ga North Pole area of Western Australia. Their carbon isotopic compositions were measured in situ by secondary-ion mass spectrometry. The carbonaceous filaments are ˜1 μm wide, 10 to 100 μm long, and are permineralized in a fine-grained (˜1 μm) silica matrix. They are morphologically divided into three types (i.e., spiral, thread-like, and branched filaments). Their sizes and morphologies resemble modern and previously reported fossil bacteria. These similarities and their complex three-dimenstional geometry suggest that they may represent morphologically preserved fossil bacteria. δ13C values of the carbonaceous filaments range from -42 to -32‰, which strongly suggest that they are composed of biologically fixed organic compounds, possibly via the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway or the Calvin cycle. This is consistent with the hypothesis that autotrophs already existed on the Archean Earth.
AB - New types of carbonaceous filamentous microstructures have been identified in silica veins at two new localities in the ˜3.5 Ga North Pole area of Western Australia. Their carbon isotopic compositions were measured in situ by secondary-ion mass spectrometry. The carbonaceous filaments are ˜1 μm wide, 10 to 100 μm long, and are permineralized in a fine-grained (˜1 μm) silica matrix. They are morphologically divided into three types (i.e., spiral, thread-like, and branched filaments). Their sizes and morphologies resemble modern and previously reported fossil bacteria. These similarities and their complex three-dimenstional geometry suggest that they may represent morphologically preserved fossil bacteria. δ13C values of the carbonaceous filaments range from -42 to -32‰, which strongly suggest that they are composed of biologically fixed organic compounds, possibly via the reductive acetyl-CoA pathway or the Calvin cycle. This is consistent with the hypothesis that autotrophs already existed on the Archean Earth.
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U2 - 10.1080/00206810109465008
DO - 10.1080/00206810109465008
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034902906
VL - 43
SP - 196
EP - 212
JO - International Geology Review
JF - International Geology Review
SN - 0020-6814
IS - 3
ER -