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Challenges in evidencing the earliest traces of life

Nature volume 572, pages 451–460 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

Earth has been habitable for 4.3 billion years, and the earliest rock record indicates the presence of a microbial biosphere by at least 3.4 billion years ago—and disputably earlier. Possible traces of life can be morphological or chemical but abiotic processes that mimic or alter them, or subsequent contamination, may challenge their interpretation. Advances in micro- and nanoscale analyses, as well as experimental approaches, are improving the characterization of these biosignatures and constraining abiotic processes, when combined with the geological context. Reassessing the evidence of early life is challenging, but essential and timely in the quest to understand the origin and evolution of life, both on Earth and beyond.

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Fig. 1: Challenges in studying traces of early life.
Fig. 2: Traces of life.
Fig. 3: Placing biosignatures on the tree of life.
Fig. 4: Evolution of early life.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Research Council StG ELiTE FP7/308074 and the Belgian FRS-FNRS-FWO Excellence of Science project ET-HOME. N. Butterfield, J. Cosmidis, C. Demoulin, A. H. Knoll and K. Lepot are acknowledged for providing some of the images. I thank many colleagues for fruitful discussions over the years, and I apologize for all the work that could not be cited, owing to limitations of space.

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  1. Early Life Traces & Evolution–Astrobiology, UR Astrobiology, Department of Geology, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium

    Emmanuelle J. Javaux

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Javaux, E.J. Challenges in evidencing the earliest traces of life. Nature 572, 451–460 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1436-4

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