Researchers persist in tackling our ignorance of what life was like way back in Earth's history. Evidence of methane production in ancient microbial ecosystems now emerges from 3.5-billion-year-old rocks.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Rosing, M. T. Science 283, 674–676 (1999).
Ueno, Y., Yamada, K., Yoshida, N., Maruyama, S. & Isozaki, Y. Nature 440, 516–519 (2006).
Shen, Y., Buick, R. & Canfield, D. E. Nature 410, 77–81 (2001).
Hofmann, H. J., Grey, K., Hickman, A. H. & Thorpe, R. I. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 111, 1256–1262 (1999).
Tice, M. M. & Lowe, D. R. Nature 431, 549–552 (2004).
Schopf, J. W. Science 260, 640–646 (1993).
Brasier, M. D. et al. Nature 416, 76–81 (2002).
Ueno, Y., Yoshioka, H., Maruyama, S. & Isozaki, Y. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 68, 573–589 (2004).
Whitman, W. B., Coleman, D. C. & Wiebe, W. J. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 95, 6578–6583 (1998).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Canfield, D. Gas with an ancient history. Nature 440, 426–427 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/440426a
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/440426a
This article is cited by
-
Are there ecological implications for the proposed energetic restrictions on photosynthetic oxygen evolution at high oxygen concentrations?
Photosynthesis Research (2007)
-
Respect for stromatolites
Nature (2006)