Elements for the Origin of Life on Land: A Deep-Time Perspective from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia
Abstract
For decades, deep sea hydrothermal vents have been a preferred setting for the Origin of Life, but “The Water Problem” as relates to polymerization of organic molecules, together with a propensity to dilute critical prebiotic elements as well as a number of other crucial factors, suggests that a terrestrial hot spring field with the capacity for wet–dry cycling and element concentration may represent a more likely candidate. Here, we investigate a 3.5 billion-year-old, anoxic hot spring setting from the Pilbara Craton (Australia) and show that its hydrothermal veins and compositionally varied pools and springs concentrated all of the essential elements required for prebiotic chemistry (including B, Zn, Mn, and K, in addition to C, H, N, O, P, and S). Temporal variability (seasonal to decadal), together with the known propensity of hot springs for wet–dry cycling and information exchange, would lead to innovation pools with peaks of fitness for developing molecules. An inference from the chemical complexity of the Pilbara analogue is that life could perhaps get started quickly on planets with volcanoes, silicate rocks, an exposed land surface, and water, ingredients that should form the backbone in the search for life in the Universe.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Baumgartner, R.J., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Pagès, A., Fiorentini, M.L., Wacey, D., and Ryan, C. (2019a) Biologically mediated accumulation of transition metals and metalloids in sulfidized stromatolites of the 3.48 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton. Precambr Res 105534; DOI: 10.1016/j.precamres.2019.105534
Baumgartner, R.J., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Wacey, D., Fiorentini, M.L., Suanders, M., Caruso, S., Pagès, A., Homann, M., and Guagliardo, P. (2019b) Nano-porous pyrite and organic matter in 3.5 billion-year-old stromatolites record primordial life. Geology 47:1039–1043.
Betts, A., Dodson, J., Garbe, U., Bertuch, F., and Thorogood, G. (2016) A carved ivory cylinder from Akchakhan-kala, Uzbekistan: problems of dating and provenance. J Archaeol Sci Rep 5:190–196.
Boudon, G., Villemant, B., Komorowski, J-C., Ildefonse, P., and Semet, M.P. (1998) The hydrothermal system at Soufriere Hills volcano, Montserrat (West Indies): characterisation and role in the on-going eruption. Geophys Res Lett 25:3693–3696.
Branscombe, E., Biancalani, T., Goldenfield, N., and Russell, M. (2017) Escapement mechanisms and the conversion of disequilibria: the engines of creation. Phys Rep 677:1–60.
Brown, A.J., Walter, M.R., and Cudahy, T.J. (2005) Hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy of a Mars analogue environment at the North Pole Dome, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Aust J Earth Sci 52:353–364.
Buchanan, L.J. (1981) Precious metal deposits associated with volcanic environments in the southwest. In Relations of Tectonics to Ore Deposits in the Southern Cordillera, edited by W.R. Dickson and W.D. Payne, Arizona Geological Society Digest 14, Arizona, U.S.A. pp 237–262.
Buick, R. (1985) Life and conditions in the early Archaean: Evidence from 3500 M.Y. old shallow-water sediments in the Warrawoona Group, North Pole, Western Australia, Thesis for Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Geology, University of Western Australia.
Buick, R. and Dunlop, J. (1990) Evaporitic sediments of early Archaean age from the Warrawoona Group, North Pole, Western Australia. Sedimentology 37:247–277.
Burcar, B.T., Barge, L.M., Trail, D., Watson, E.B., Russell, M.J., and McGowan, L.B. (2015) RNA oligomerization in laboratory analogues of alkaline hydrothermal vent systems. Astrobiology 15:509–522.
Byerly, G. and Lowe, D.R. (1991) Tourmaline mineralization in the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa: early Archean metasomatism by evaporate-derived boron. Contrib Mineral Petrol 107:387–402.
Campbell, K.A., Guido, D.M., Gautret, P., Foucher, F., Ramboz, C., and Westall, F. (2015) Geyserite in hot-spring siliceous sinter: window on Earth's hottest terrestrial (paleo)environment and its extreme life. Earth Sci Rev 148:44–64.
Caporali, S., Grazzi, F., Salvemini, F., Garbe, U., Peetermans, S., and Pratesi, G. (2016) Structural characterization of iron meteorites through neutron tomography. Minerals 6:14.
Cavosie, A.J., Valley, J.W., and Wilde, S.A. (2007) The oldest terrestrial mineral record: a review of 4400 to 4000 Ma detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia. In Earth's Oldest Rocks, edited by M.J. Van Kranendonk, R.H. Smithies, and V.C. Bennett. Developments in Precambrian Geology 15, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 91–112.
Charles, R.W., Vidale Buden, R.J., and Goff, F. (1986) An interpretation of the alteration assemblages at Sulphur Springs, Valles Caldera, New Mexico. J Geophys Res 91:1887–1898.
Corliss, J.B., Dymond, J., Gordon, L.I., Edmond, J.M., von Herzen, R.P., Ballard, R.D., Green, K., Williams, D., Bainbridge, A., Crane, K., and van Andel, T.H. (1979) Submarine thermal springs on the Galápagos rift. Science 203:1073–1083.
Damer, B. and Deamer, D. (2019) The hot spring hypothesis for an Origin of Life. Astrobiology 20:429–452.
Deamer, D.W. and Barchfeld, G.L. (1982) Encapsulation of macromolecules by lipid vesicles under simulated prebiotic conditions. J Mol Evol 18:203–206.
Deamer, D.W. and Weber, A.L. (2010) Bioenergetics and life's origins. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 2:a004929.
De Guzman, V., Shenasa, H., Vercoutere, W., and Deamer, D. (2014) Generation of oligonucleotides under hydrothermal conditions by non-enzymatic polymerization. J Mol Evol 78:251–262.
De Wit, M.J. and Hart, R.A. (1993) Earth's earliest continental lithosphere, hydrothermal flux and crustal recycling. Lithos 30:309–335.
Djokic, T. (2015) Assessing the link between Earth's earliest convincing evidence of life and hydrothermal fluids: the c. 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation of the North Pole Dome, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Unpublished M.Phil thesis, University of New South Wales Australia, 160 pp.
Djokic, T., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Campbell, K.A., Walter, M.R., and Ward, C.R. (2017) Earliest signs of life on land preserved in c. 3.5 Ga hot spring deposits. Nat Commun 8:15263.
Djokic, T., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Campbell, K.A., Havig, J., Walter, M.R., and Guido, D.M. (2020) A reconstructed subaerial hot spring field in the ∼3.5 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, North Pole Dome, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Astrobiology 20:xxx-xxx.
Duda, J-P., Thiel, V., Bauersachs, T., Missbach, H., Reinhard, M., Schäfer, N., Van Kranendonk, M.J., and Reitner, J. (2018) Ideas and perspectives: hydrothermally driven redistribution and sequestration of early Archaean biomass—the ‘hydrothermal pump hypothesis’. Biogeosciences 15:1535–1548.
Ferris, J.P. (2005) Mineral catalysis and prebiotic synthesis: montmorillonite-catalyzed formation of RNA. Elements 1:145–149.
Flannery, D.T., Allwood, A.C., Summons, R.E., Williford, K.H., Abbey, W., Matys, E.D., and Ferralis, N. (2018) Spatially-resolved isotopic study of carbon trapped in ∼3.43 Ga Strelley Pool Formation stromatolites. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 223:21–35.
Forsythe, J.G., Yu, S-S, Mamajanov, I., Griver, M.A., Krishnamurthy, R., Fernandez, F.M., and Hud, N.V. (2015) Ester-mediated amide bond formation driven by dry-wet cycles: a possible path to polypeptides on the prebiotic Earth. Angew Chem Int Ed 54:9871–9875.
Francheteau, J., Needham, H.D., Choukroune, P., Juteau, T., Seguret, M., Ballard, R.D., Fox, P.J., Normark, W., Carranza, A., Cordoba, D., Guerrero, J., Rangin, C., Bougault, H., Cambon, P., and Hekinian, R. (1979) Massive deep-sea sulphide ore deposits discovered on the East Pacific Rise. Nature 277:523–528.
Galtier, N., Tourasse, N., and Gouy, M. (1999) A nonhyperthermophilic common ancestor to extant life forms. Science 283:220–221.
Garcia-Ruiz, J.M., Hyde, S.T., Carnerup, A.M., Christy, A.G., Van Kranendonk, M.J., and Welham, N.J. (2003) Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils. Science 302:1194–1197.
Ghosh, W., Mallick, S., Haldar, P.K., Pal, B., Maikap, C., and Das Gupta, S.K. (2012) Molecular and cellular fossils of a mat-like microbial community in geothermal boratic sinter. Geomicrobiol J 29:879–885.
Giggenbach, W.F. (1992) Isotopic shifts in waters from geothermal and volcanic systems along convergent plate boundaries. Earth Planet Sci Lett 113:495–510.
Glikson, M., Duck, L.J., Golding, S.D., Hofmann, A., Bolhar, R., Webb, R., Baiano, J.C.F., and Sly, L.I. (2008) Microbial remains in some earliest Earth rocks: comparison with a potential modern analogue. Precambr Res 164:187–200.
Grew, E.S., Bada, J.L., and Hazen, R.M. (2011) Borate minerals and origin of the RNA world. Origin Life Evol Biosphere 41:307–316.
Grew, E.S., Dymek, R.F., De Hoog, J.C.M., Harley, S.L., Boak, J., Hazen, R.M., and Yates, M.G. (2015) Boron isotopes in tourmaline from the 3.7–3.8 Ga Isua supracrustal belt, Greenland: sources for boron in Eoarchean continental crust and seawater. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 163:156–177.
Groves, D.I., Dunlop, J.S.R., and Buick, R. (1981) An early habitat of life. Sci Am 245:64–73.
Harris, A.C., White, N.C., McPhie, J., Bull, S.W., Line, M.A., Skrzeczynski, R., Mernagh, T.P., and Tosdal, R.M. (2009) Early Archean hot springs above epithermal veins, North Pole, Western Australia: new insights from fluid inclusion microanalysis. Econ Geol 104:793–814.
Hartmann, W. K., Ryder, G., Dones, L., and Grinspoon, D. (2000) The time-dependent intense bombardment of the primordial Earth/Moon system. In Origin of the Earth and Moon, edited by R. Canup and K. Righter, Univ. Arizona Press, Tucson, pp 493–512.
Hazen, R.M. (2017) Chance, necessity, and the origins of life: a physical sciences perspective. Philos Trans Roy Soc A375:20160353.
Hazen, R.M. and Sverjensky, D.A. (2010) Mineral surfaces, geochemical complexities, and the origins of life. In: The Origins of Life, edited by D.W. Deamer and and J.W. Szostak, Cold Springs Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 2, pp 157–177.
Hedenquist, J.W. and Aoki, M. (1991) Meteoric interaction with magmatic discharges in Japan and the significance for mineralization. Geology 19:1041–1043.
Henry, D.J. and Guidotti, C.V. (1985) Tourmaline as a petrogenetic indicator mineral—an example from the staurolite-grade metapelites of NW Maine. Am Mineral 70:1–15.
Hiess, J. and Bennett, V. (2016) Chondritic Lu/Hf in the early crust–mantle system as recorded by zircon populations from the oldest Eoarchean rocks of Yilgarn Craton, West Australia and Enderby Land, Antarctica. Chem Geol 427:125–143.
Hofmann, A. and Harris, C. (2008) Silica alteration zones in the Barberton greenstone belt: a window into subseafloor processes 3.5–3.3 Ga ago. Chem Geol 257:221–239.
Horst, A.M., Neal, A.C., Mielke, R.E., Sislian, P.R., Suh, W.H., Mädler, L., Stucky, G.D., and Holden, P.A. (2010) Dispersion of TiO2 nanoparticle agglomerates by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Appl Environ Microb 76:7292–7298.
Hud, N., Brian, J., Cafferty, B.J., Krishnamurthy, R., and Williams, R.D. (2013) The Origin of RNA and ‘‘My Grandfather's Axe’’. Chem Biol 20:466–474.
Isherwood, R.J., Jozwiak, L.M., Jansen, J.C., and Andrews-Hanna, J.C. (2013) The volcanic history of Olympus Mons from paleo-topography and flexural modelling. Earth Planet Sci Lett 363:88–96.
Jannasch, H.W. and Mottl, M.J. (1985) Geomicrobiology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Science 229:717–725.
Kazmierczak, J. and Kempe, S. (2006) Genuine modern analogues of Precambrian stromatolites from caldera lakes of Niuafo'ou Island, Tonga. Naturwissenschaften 93:119–126.
Kemp, A.I.S., Wilde, S.A., Hawkesworth, C.J., Coath, C.D., Nemchin, A., Pidgeon, R.T., Vervoort, J.D., and DuFrane, S.A. (2010) Hadean crustal evolution revisited: new constraints from Pb–Hf isotope systematics of the Jack Hills zircons. Earth Planet Sci Lett 296:45–56.
Kemp, A.I.S., Hickman, A.H., Kirkland, C.L., and Vervoort, J.D. (2015) Hf isotopes in detrital and inherited zircons of the Pilbara Craton provide no evidence for Hadean continents. Precambr Res 261:112–126.
Kim, H.J., Ricardo, A., Illangkoon, H.I., Kim, M.J., Carrigan, M.A., Frye, F., and Benner, S.A. (2011) Synthesis of carbohydrates in mineral-guided prebiotic cycles. J Am Chem Soc 133:9457–9468.
Kitajima, K., Maruyama, S., Utsonomita, S., and Liou, J.G. (2001) Seafloor hydrothermal alteration at an Archaean mid-ocean ridge. J Metamorph Geol 19:581–597.
Lentz, D.R. (1994) Alteration and alteration processes associated with ore-forming systems. Short Course Notes, 11. Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division.
Lindsay, J.F., Brasier, M.D., McLoughlin, N., Green, O.R., Fogel, M., Steele, A., and Mertzman, S.A. (2005) The problem of deep carbon—an Archaean paradox. Precambr Research 143:1–22.
Martin, W., Baross, J., Kelley, D., and Russell, M.J. (2008) Hydrothermal vents and the origin of life. Nat Rev Microbiol 6:805–814.
McCollom, T.M. and Seewald, J.S. (2006) Carbon isotope composition of organic compounds produced by abiotic synthesis under hydrothermal conditions. Earth Planet Sci Lett 243:74–84.
McCollom, T.M. and Shock, E.L. (1997) Geochemical constraints on chemolithoautotrophic metabolism by microorganisms in seafloor hydrothermal systems. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 61:4375–4391.
Mishima, S., Ohtomo, Y., and Kakegawa, T. (2016) Occurrence of tourmaline in metasedimentary rocks of the Isua Supracrustal Belt, Greenland: implications for ribose stabilization in Hadean Marine Sediments. Origins Life Evol Biosph 46:247–271.
Monnard, P.A. and Deamer, D.W. (2002) Membrane self-assembly processes: steps toward the first cellular life. Anat Rec 268:196–207.
Moore, W.B. and Webb, A.G. (2013) Heat-pipe Earth. Nature 501:501–505.
Morag, N., Williford, K.H., Kitajima, K., Philippot, P., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Lepot, K., Thomazo, C., and Valley, J.W. (2016) Microstructure-specific carbon isotopic signatures of organic matter from ∼3.5 Ga cherts of the Pilbara Craton support a biologic origin. Precambr Res 275:429–449.
Morrison, S.M., Runyon, S.E., and Hazen, R.M. (2019) The paleomineralogy of the Hadean Eon revisited. Life 8:64.
Mulkidjanian, A.Y., Cherepanov, D.A., and Galperin, M.Y. (2003) Survival of the fittest before the beginning of life: selection of the first oligonucleotide-like polymers by UV light. BMC Evol Biol 3:12.
Mulkidjanian, A.Y., Galperin, M.Y., and Koonin, E.V. (2009) Co-evolution of primordial membranes and membrane proteins. Trends Biochem Sci 34:206–215.
Mulkidjanian, A.Y., Bychkov, A.Y., Dibrova, D.V., Galperin, M.Y., and Koonin, E.V. (2012) Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields. PNAS 109:E821–E830.
Nakano, T. and Nakamura, E. (2001) Boron isotope geochemistry of metasedimentary rocks and tourmalines in the subduction-zone metamorphism. Phys Earth Planet Inter 127:233–252.
Nijman, W., De Bruin, K., and Valkering, M. (1999) Growth fault control of early Archaean cherts, barite mounds, and chert-barite veins, North Pole Dome, Eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. Precambr Res 95:247–274.
Nishizawa, M., Terada, K., Ueno, Y., and Sano, Y. (2004) Ion microprobe U-Pb dating and REE analysis of apatite from kerogen-rich silica dike from North Pole area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Geochem J 38:243–254.
Nitschke, W. and Russell, M.J. (2009) Hydrothermal focusing of chemical and chemiosmotic energy, supported by delivery of catalytic Fe, Ni, Mo/W, Co, S and Se forced life to emerge. J Mol Evol 69:481–496.
Norrish, K. and Hutton, J.T. (1969) An accurate X-ray spectrographic method for the analysis of a wide range of geological samples. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 33:431–453.
O'Neill, C. and Debaille, V. (2014) The evolution of Hadean–Eoarchaean geodynamics. Earth Planet Sci Lett 406:49–58.
Ota, T., Aihara, Y., Kiyokawa, S., Tanaka, R., and Nakamura, E. (2019) Tourmaline in a Mesoarchean pelagic hydrothermal system: implications for the habitat of early life. Precambr Res 334:105475.
Otálora, F., Mazurier, A., García-Ruiz, J.M., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Kotopoulos, E., El Albani, A., and Garrido, C.J. (2017) A crystallographic study of crystalline casts and pseudomorphs from the 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton (Australia). J Appl Crystallogr 51:1050–1058.
Palmer, M.R. and Slack, J.F. (1989) Boron isotopic composition of tourmaline from massive sulphide deposits and tourmalinites. Contrib Mineral Petrol 103:434–451.
Pearce, B.K.D., Pudritz, R.E., Semenov, D.A., and Henning, T.K. (2017) Origin of the RNA world: the fate of nucleobases in warm little ponds. PNAS 114:11327–11332.
Philippot, P., Van Zuilen, M., Lepot, K., Thomazo, C., Farquhar, J., and Van Kranendonk, M. (2007) Early Archean microorganisms preferred elemental sulphur, not sulphate. Science 317:1534–1537.
Pinti, D.L., Hashizume, K., Sugihara, A., Massault, M., and Philippot, P. (2009) Isotopic fractionation of nitrogen and carbon in Paleoarchean cherts from Pilbara craton, Western Australia: origin of 15N-depleted nitrogen. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 73:3819–3848.
Pirajno, F. (2009). Hydrothermal Processes and Mineral Systems. Springer, Berlin, 1250p.
Poole, G. (2013). Modelling hydrothermal Alteration facies of Earth's oldest hydrothermal setting: the 3.5 Ga North Pole Dome, Western Australia, Australia. Unpublished B.Sc. Honours thesis, University of New South Wales, 72p.
Rajamani, S., Vlassov, A., Benner, S., Coombs A., Olasagasti, F., and Deamer, D. (2008) Lipid-assisted synthesis of RNA-like polymers for mononucleotides. Origins Life Evol Biosph 38:57–74.
Renaut, R.W. and Jones, B. (1997) Controls on aragonite and calcite precipitation in hot spring travertines at Chemurkeu, Lake Bogoria, Kenya. Can J Earth Sci 34:801–818.
Ross, D.S. and Deamer, D. (2016) Dry/wet cycling and the thermodynamics and kinetics of prebiotic polymer synthesis. Life 6:28.
Ruff, S.W., Farmer, J.D., Calvin, W.M., Herkenhoff, K.E., Johnson, J.R., Morris, R.V., Rice, M.S., Arvidson, R.E., Bell, III, J.F., Christensen, P.R., and Squyres, S.W. (2011) Characteristics, distribution, origin, and significance of opaline silica observed by the Spirit rover in Gusev crater, Mars. J Geophys Res 116:E00F23.
Russell, M.J. and Hall, A.J. (2006) The onset and early evolution of life. In Evolution of Early Earth's Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Biosphere—Constraints from Ore Deposits, edited by S.E. Kesler and H. Ohmoto, Geological Society of America Memoir 198, Denver, CO, pp 1–32.
Shen, Y., Buick, R., and Canfield, D.E. (2001) Isotopic evidence for microbial sulphate reduction in the early Archaean era. Nature 410:77–81.
Shen, Y., Farquhar, J., Masterson, A., Kaufman, A.J., and Buick, R. (2009) Evaluating the role of microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archean using quadruple isotope systematics. Earth Planet Sci Lett 279:383–391.
Sillitoe, R.H. (1999) Styles of high-sulphidation gold, silver, and copper mineralisation in porphyry and epithermal environments. In: PACRIM Congress'99, Bali, Indonesia, 1999. Conference Proceedings, Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Melbourne, pp. 29–44.
Skok, J.R., Mustard, J.F., Ehlmann, B.L., Milliken, R.E., and Murchie, S.L. (2010) Silica deposits in the Nili Patera caldera on the Syrtis Major volcanic complex on Mars. Nat Geosci 3:838–841.
Slack, J.F., Palmer, M.R., and Stevens, B. (1989) Boron isotope evidence for the involvement of non-marine evaporites in the origin of the Broken-Hill ore-deposits. Nature 342:913–916.
Squyres, S.W., Arvidson, R.E., Ruff, S., GEllert, R., Morris, R.V., Ming, D.W., Crumpler, L., Farmer, J.D., Des Marais, D.J., Yen, A., McLennan, S.M., Calvin, W., Bell, III, J.F., Clark, B.C., Wang, A., McCoy, T.J., Schmidt, M.E., and de Souza, Jr., P.A. (2008) Detection of silica-rich deposits on Mars. Science 320:1063–1067.
Steller, L.H., Nakamura, E., Ota, T., Sakaguchi, C., Sharma, M., and Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2019) Boron isotopes in the Puga geothermal system, India, and their implications for the habitat of early life. Astrobiology 19:12.
Stetter, K.O. (1996) Hyperthermophilic prokaryotes. FEMS Microbiol Rev 18:149–158.
Stofan, E.R., Sharpton, V.L., Schubert, G., Baer, G., Bindshadler, D.L., Janes, D.M., and Squyres, S.W. (1992) Global distribution and characteristics of coronae and related features on Venus: implications for origin and relation to mantle processes. J Geophys Res Planets 97:E8.
Terabayashi, M., Masuda, Y., and Ozawa, H. (2003) Archaean ocean-floor metamorphism in the North Pole area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precambr Res 127:167–180.
Ueno, Y., Yoshioka, H., Maruyama, S., and Isozaki, Y. (2004) Carbon isotopes and petrography in ∼3.5 Ga hydrothermal silica dykes in the North Pole area, Western Australia. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 68:573–589.
Ueno, Y., Yamada, K., Yoshida, N., Maruyama, S., and Isozaki, Y. (2006) Evidence from fluid inclusions for microbial methanogenesis in the early Archaean era. Nature 440:516–519.
Ueno, Y., Ono, S., Rumble, D., and Maruyama, S. (2008) Quadruple sulfur isotope analysis of ca. 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation: new evidence for microbial sulfate reduction in the early Archean. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 72:5675–5691.
Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2000) Geology of the North Shaw 1:100 000 sheet: western Australia Geological Survey, 1:100 000 Geological Series Explanatory Notes, 86p.
Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2006) Volcanic degassing, hydrothermal circulation and the flourishing of early life on Earth: new evidence from the Warrawoona Group, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Earth Sci Rev 74:197–240.
Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2010) Two types of Archean continental crust: plume and plate tectonics on early Earth. Am J Sci 310:1187–1209.
Van Kranendonk, M.J. (2011) Stromatolite morphology as an indicator of biogenicity for Earth's oldest fossils from the 3.5–3.4 Ga Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. In Advances in Stromatolite Geobiology, edited by J. Reitner, N-V. Queric, and G. Arp. Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, v. 131, Springer, Germany, pp 517–534.
Van Kranendonk, M.J. and Pirajno, F. (2004) Geological setting and geochemistry of metabasalts and alteration zones associated with hydrothermal chert ± barite deposits in the ca. 3.45 Ga Warrawoona Group, Pilbara Craton, Australia. Geochem Explor Environ Anal 4:253–278.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Webb, G.E., and Kamber, B.S. (2003) Geological and trace element evidence for a marine sedimentary environment of deposition and biogenicity of 3.45 Ga stromatolitic carbonates in the Pilbara Craton, and support for a reducing Archean ocean. Geobiology 1:91–108.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Hickman, A., and Smithies, R. H. (2007) The East Pilbara Terrane of the Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: formation of a continental nucleus through repeated mantle plume magmatism. In Earth's Oldest Rocks, edited by M.J. Van Kranendonk, R.H. Smithies, and V. Bennett, Developments in Precambrian Geology 15, Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 307–337.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Philippot, P., Lepot, K., Bodorkos, S., and Pirajno, F. (2008) Geological setting of Earth's oldest fossils in the c. 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia. Precambr Res 167:93–124.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Smithies, R.H., Griffin, W.L., Huston, D.L., Hickman, A.H., Champion, D.C., Anhaeusser, C.R., and Pirajno, F. (2015) Making it thick: a volcanic plateau model for Paleoarchean continental lithosphere of the Pilbara and Kaapvaal cratons. In Continent Formation Through Time, edited by N.M.W. Roberts, M. Van Kranendonk, S. Parman, S. Shirey, and P.D. Clift, Geological Society, London, Special Publications 389, pp 83–112.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Deamer, D.W., and Djokic, T. (2017) Life springs: Darwin's warm little pond revisited. Sci Am 317:28–35.
Van Kranendonk, M.J., Djokic, T., Poole, G., Tadbiri, S., Steller, L., and Baumgartner, R. (2018) Depositional setting of the fossiliferous, c. 3480 Ma Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton: a review. In Earth's Oldest Rocks, 2nd ed., edited by M.J. Van Kranendonk, V.C. Bennett, and J.E. Hoffmann, Elsevier, USA, pp 985–1006.
Vervoort, J.D. and Bichert-Toft, J. (1999) Evolution of the depleted mantle: Hf isotope evidence from juvenile rocks through time. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 63:533–556.
Walter, M.R., Buick, R., and Dunlop, J.S.R. (1980) Stromatolites, 3,400–3,500 Myr old from the North Pole area, Western Australia. Nature 284:443–445.
Weiss, R.F., Lonsdale, P., Lupton, J.E., Bainbridge, A.E., and Craig, H. (1977) Hydrothermal plumes in the Galapagos rift. Nature 267:600–603.
White, N.C. and Hedenquist, J.W. (1995) Epithermal gold deposits: styles, characteristics and exploration. Soc Econ Geol Newslett 23:9–13.
Williams, D.L., Von Herzen, R.P., Sclater, J.G., and Anderson, R.N. (1974) The Galapagos Spreading Centre: lithospheric cooling and hydrothermal circulation. Geophys J Roy Astron Soc 38:587–608.
Williams, J-P., Nimmo, F., Moore, W.B., and Paige, D.A. (2008) The formation of Tharsis on Mars: what the line-of-sight gravity is telling us. J Geophys Res 113:E10011.
Zhou, R. and Guzman, M.I. (2014) CO2 reduction under periodic illumination of ZnS. J Phys Chem 118:11649–11656.
Associate Editor: David Deamer
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright 2021, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.
History
Published online: 5 January 2021
Published in print: January 2021
Accepted: 3 March 2020
Received: 22 May 2019
Topics
Authors
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
Funding Information
M.V.K., T.D., and R.B. acknowledge support from UNSW, the Sloan Foundation of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the ARC Centre of Excellence for Core to Crust Fluid Systems (CCFS), and funds from ARC Discovery Project 180103204. E.N. and T.O. are supported by MEXT, Japan. This is CCFS Publication number 1486.
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Export Citation
Export citation
Select the format you want to export the citations of this publication.
View Options
Get Access
Access content
To read the fulltext, please use one of the options below to sign in or purchase access.⚠ Society Access
If you are a member of a society that has access to this content please log in via your society website and then return to this publication.