Abstract
Recent reports1–4 have described “yeast-like microfossils” (Isuasphaera isua Pflug2) in 3,800-Myr old5 metaquartzites from the Isua supracrustal belt of south-west Greenland. A biogenic interpretation of these objects is inconsistent with the tectonic history of the Isua region6–8, with the petrology of the metaquartzites, and with the morphology of the microstructures themselves. The putative microfossils are indistinguishable from limonite-stained fluid inclusions: microstructures which are demonstrably inorganic and post-depositional in origin. As such, we contend here that these objects should not be regarded as evidence of early Archaean life forms.
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Bridgwater, D., Allaart, J., Schopf, J. et al. Microfossil-like objects from the Archaean of Greenland: a cautionary note. Nature 289, 51–53 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/289051a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/289051a0
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