Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Bell EA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4664351 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Bell Elizabeth A EA Boehnke Patrick P Harrison T Mark TM Mao Wendy L WL
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20151019 47
Evidence of life on Earth is manifestly preserved in the rock record. However, the microfossil record only extends to ∼ 3.5 billion years (Ga), the chemofossil record arguably to ∼ 3.8 Ga, and the rock record to 4.0 Ga. Detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia range in age up to nearly 4.4 Ga. From a population of over 10,000 Jack Hills zircons, we identified one >3.8-Ga zircon that contains primary graphite inclusions. Here, we report carbon isotopic measurements on these inclusions ...[more]