Journal
FREE RADICAL BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
Volume 140, Issue -, Pages 103-112Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2019.03.005
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Funding
- Simons Foundation via the Simons Collaboration on the Origins of Life [290361]
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Here we discuss the early geological record of preserved organic carbon and the criteria that must be applied to distinguish biological from non-biological origins. Sedimentary graphite, irrespective of its isotopic composition, does not constitute a reliable biosignature because the rocks in which it is found are generally metamorphosed to the point where convincing signs of life have been erased. Rather, multiple lines of evidence, including sedimentary textures, microfossils, large accumulations of organic matter and isotopic data for co-existing carbon, nitrogen and sulfur are required before biological origin can be convincingly demonstrated.
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