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Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere.

ABSTRACT: Highly cracked and isomerized archaeal lipids and bacterial lipids, structurally changed by thermal stress, are present in solvent extracts of 2,707- to 2,685-million-year-old (Ma) metasedimentary rocks from Timmins, ON, Canada. These lipids appear in conventional gas chromatograms as unresolved complex mixtures and include cyclic and acyclic biphytanes, C36-C39 derivatives of the biphytanes, and C31-C35 extended hopanes. Biphytane and extended hopanes are also found in high-pressure catalytic hydrogenation products released from solvent-extracted sediments, indicating that archaea and bacteria were present in Late Archean sedimentary environments. Postdepositional, hydrothermal gold mineralization and graphite precipitation occurred before metamorphism (approximately 2,665 Ma). Late Archean metamorphism significantly reduced the kerogen's adsorptive capacity and severely restricted sediment porosity, limiting the potential for post-Archean additions of organic matter to the samples. Argillites exposed to hydrothermal gold mineralization have disproportionately high concentrations of extractable archaeal and bacterial lipids relative to what is releasable from their respective high-pressure catalytic hydrogenation product and what is observed for argillites deposited away from these hydrothermal settings. The addition of these lipids to the sediments likely results from a Late Archean subsurface hydrothermal biosphere of archaea and bacteria.

SUBMITTER: Ventura GT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1964827 | biostudies-other | 2007 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere.

Ventura Gregory T GT Kenig Fabien F Reddy Christopher M CM Schieber Juergen J Frysinger Glenn S GS Nelson Robert K RK Dinel Etienne E Gaines Richard B RB Schaeffer Philippe P

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20070828 36

Highly cracked and isomerized archaeal lipids and bacterial lipids, structurally changed by thermal stress, are present in solvent extracts of 2,707- to 2,685-million-year-old (Ma) metasedimentary rocks from Timmins, ON, Canada. These lipids appear in conventional gas chromatograms as unresolved complex mixtures and include cyclic and acyclic biphytanes, C36-C39 derivatives of the biphytanes, and C31-C35 extended hopanes. Biphytane and extended hopanes are also found in high-pressure catalytic h ...[more]

PMID: 17726114

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Project description:Abstract A conspicuous biomorphic ovoid structure has been discovered in the Nakhla martian meteorite, made of nanocrystalline iron-rich saponitic clay and amorphous material. The ovoid is indigenous to Nakhla and occurs within a late-formed amorphous mesostasis region of rhyolitic composition that is interstitial to two clinopyroxene grains with Al-rich rims, and contains acicular apatite crystals, olivine, sulfides, Ti-rich magnetite, and a new mineral of the rhoenite group. To infer the origin of the ovoid, a large set of analytical tools was employed, including scanning electron microscopy and backscattered electron imaging, wavelength-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray mapping, Raman spectroscopy, time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis, high-resolution transmission electron microscope imaging, and atomic force microscope topographic mapping. The concentric wall of the ovoid surrounds an originally hollow volume and exhibits internal layering of contrasting nanotextures but uniform chemical composition, and likely inherited its overall shape from a preexisting vesicle in the mesostasis glass. A final fibrous layer of Fe-rich phases blankets the interior surfaces of the ovoid wall structure. There is evidence that the parent rock of Nakhla has undergone a shock event from a nearby bolide impact that melted the rims of pyroxene and the interstitial matter and initiated an igneous hydrothermal system of rapidly cooling fluids, which were progressively mixed with fluids from the melted permafrost. Sharp temperature gradients were responsible for the crystallization of Al-rich clinopyroxene rims, rhoenite, acicular apatites, and the quenching of the mesostasis glass and the vesicle. During the formation of the ovoid structure, episodic fluid infiltration events resulted in the precipitation of saponite rinds around the vesicle walls, altered pyrrhotite to marcasite, and then isolated the ovoid wall structure from the rest of the system by depositing a layer of iron oxides/hydroxides. Carbonates, halite, and sulfates were deposited last within interstitial spaces and along fractures. Among three plausible competing hypotheses here, this particular abiotic scenario is considered to be the most reasonable explanation for the formation of the ovoid structure in Nakhla, and although compelling evidence for a biotic origin is lacking, it is evident that the martian subsurface contains niche environments where life could develop.

Dataset Information

Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere.

Publications

Molecular evidence of Late Archean archaea and the presence of a subsurface hydrothermal biosphere.

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