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

Preface Contributors Dedication to John F. Lindsay Introduction Miryam Glikson and Suzanne D. Golding Part I: Submarine hot springs and venting environments - cradle of life Earliest seafloor hydrothermal systems on Earth: Comparison with modern analogues Suzanne D. Golding et al Archean hydrothermal systems in the Barberton Greenstone Belt and their significance as a habitat for early life Axel Hofmann Birth of biomolecules from the warm wet sheets of clays near spreading centres Lynda.B. Williams et al Part II: Evidence and record of earliest life on Earth Towards a null hypothesis for stromatolites Martin D. Brasier Trace element geochemistry as a tool for interpreting microbialites Gregory E. Webb and Balz S. Kamber A modern perspective on ancient life: microbial mats in sandy marine settings from the Archean Era to today Nora Noffke Early life record from nitrogen isotopes Daniele L. Pinti and Ko Hashizume Part III: Distinguishing biological from abiotically synthesized organic matter in the early archean Integration of observational and analytical methodologies to characterize organic matter in early Archean rocks: distinguishing biological from abiotically synthesized carbonaceous matter structures Miryam Glikson et al Bugs or gunk? Nanoscale methods for assessing the biogenicity of ancient microfossils and organic matter Bradley T. De Gregorio et al What can carbon isotopes tell us about sources of reduced carbon in rocks from the early Earth Thomas M. McCollom Index