科学家在西澳大利亚著名的35亿年前的岩层中发现了早期生命的痕迹，这代表着地球上生命形成方式的巨大突破。
南威尔士新闻大学(UNSW)的研究人员首次在西澳大利亚皮尔巴拉地区的石化地层中发现了有机物。这些化石被称为德莱塞组。
夹层岩石是一种由蓝藻等生物形成的岩层。虽然人们怀疑古代德莱塞岩层是由生物产生的，但至今尚未得到证实。
新南威尔士大学首席研究员拉斐尔·鲍姆加特纳博士说:“这是一个令人激动的发现。这是我们第一次能够向世界展示这些叠层石是地球上最早生命的确凿证据。”
自从它们在1980年被发现以来，关于梳妆台组是否真的起源于生物，并因此是地球上生命的最早迹象，一直有激烈的争论。
为了证明这一理论，鲍姆加特纳和他的团队从风化的外部提取了叠层石的核心样品，岩石中的微生物在过去得到了更好的保存。
鲍姆加特纳说:“在这项研究中，我花了很多时间在实验室里，用微量分析技术非常仔细地观察岩石样本，从而一劳永逸地证明了我们的理论。”
他们发现层状岩石基本上由黄铁矿(也称为“傻瓜金”)组成，其中含有“异常保留的连贯细丝和线，通常是微生物生物膜的残留物”。
“我记得那天晚上在电子显微镜下我终于发现我在看生物膜残留物——我想这是晚上11点左右的‘尤里卡’时间，我一直呆到下午3点或4点。鲍姆加特纳说:“早上，我非常兴奋，完全浪费了时间。
突破性进展有助于赫德利舰队增加地球上生命可能起源的证据，现在为目前在火星上寻找生命提供信息，
“这代表了我们对这些岩石的了解，一般来说是早期生命调查的科学，特别是在火星上发现生命的重大进展。我们现在有了寻找古代生物的新目标和新方法。生命的痕迹。”新南威尔士澳大利亚天体生物学中心主任范·克朗东克教授说。
Scientists have found traces of early life in Western Australia's (WA) famous 3.5-billion-year-old rock formations, representing a giant breakthrough in the understanding of how life formed on Earth.
Researchers from the University of News South Wales (UNSW) have for the first time found organic matter located in a group of fossilised stromatolites known as the Dresser Formation in WA's Pilbara region.
Stromatolites are a type of rock formation formed by living organisms such as cyanobacteria and while it was previously suspected that the ancient Dresser Formation was produced by living organisms, it remained unproven -- until now.
"This is an exciting discovery -- for the first time, we're able to show the world that these stromatolites are definitive evidence for the earliest life on Earth," lead researcher Dr Raphael Baumgartner from UNSW said.
Ever since their discovery in 1980 it has been hotly contested whether the Dresser Formation actually were of biogenic origin, and therefore the earliest signs of life on earth.
To prove the theory, Baumgartner and his team took drill core samples of the stromatolites, beyond the weathered exterior to where the rock's microbial past was far better preserved.
"In this study, I spent a lot of time in the lab, using micro-analytical techniques to look very closely at the rock samples, to prove our theory once and for all," Baumgartner said.
What they uncovered was that the stromatolites were essentially composed of pyrite -- also known as 'fool's gold' -- within which there were "exceptionally preserved coherent filaments and strands that are typically remains of microbial biofilms."
"I remember the night at the electron microscope where I finally figured out that I was looking at biofilm remains -- I think it was around 11pm when I had this 'eureka' moment, and I stayed until three or four o'clock in the morning -- I was so excited, I totally lost track of time," Baumgartner said.
The breakthrough contributes to growing evidence from the Dresser Formation about how life on earth may have originated and is now informing current searches for life on Mars, with NASA experts travelling to WA last month to learn about this unique site.
"This represents a major advance in our knowledge of these rocks, in the science of early life investigations generally, and -- more specifically -- in the search for life on Mars. We now have a new target and new methodology to search for ancient life traces," Director of Australian Centre for Astrobiology at UNSW, Professor Van Kranendonk said.
澳大利亚科学家证实了35亿年前的岩层中的早期生命痕迹
文章转载链接：http://zmt.designcto.com/keji/71266.html
想了解更多资讯欢迎进入自媒体联盟官方媒体，自媒体联盟涵盖网络自媒体,网络新媒体,自媒体网站,新媒体网站,媒体发布,媒体投放,媒体平台！
