Early Life Recorded in Archean Pillow Lavas
Harald Furnes, Neil R. Banerjee, Karlis Muehlenbachs, Hubert Staudigel, Maarten de Wit 2004 Science v304. n5670, pp. 578 - 581

This Science scholarly article contains information about pillow lava rims from the Mesoarchean Barberton Greenstone Belt in South Africa. The rocks contain micrometer-scale mineralized tubes that provide evidence of submarine microbial activity during the early history of Earth. The tubes formed during microbial etching of glass along fractures, as seen in pillow lavas from recent oceanic crust. Overlapping metamorphic and magmatic dates from the pillow lavas suggest that microbial life colonized these subaqueous volcanic rocks soon after their eruption almost 3.5 billion years ago.

DOI 10.1126/science.1095858

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Subject: Geoscience:Geology:Mineralogy:Biomineralogy, Biology:Microbiology, Evolution, Biogeochemistry, Geoscience:Geology:Geochemistry:Stable Isotopes, Biology:Ecology:Habitats:Within Rock
Resource Type: Scientific Resources:Overview/Reference Work, Research Results, Book
Grade Level: College Upper (15-16), College Lower (13-14), Graduate/ProfessionalKeywords: stable isotope, biomarker