Molecular fossils, the evolution of Earth s early oceans and the origin of the oldest oil

From a turbid, sulfidic broth to clear, blue sea, the advent of the first marine animals, around 600 million years ago, may have been responsible for the greatest change of the oceans in Earth history. Our project, by testing molecular fossils from this period, will elucidate the links between the shifts in the dominant life forms in the oceans and cataclysmic events in the carbon cycle. We will study whether the transition from an ocean dominated by bacteria to one dominated by eukaryotes is responsible for the formation of hydrocarbon-prone rocks and ultimately the world s oldest oil.