Self-Assembled Silica-Carbonate Structures and Detection of Ancient Microfossils

J. M. García-Ruiz; S. T. Hyde; A. M. Carnerup; A. G. Christy; M. J. Van Kranendonk; N. J. Welham

doi:10.1126/science.1090163

Self-Assembled Silica-Carbonate Structures and Detection of Ancient Microfossils

J. M. García-Ruiz^*, S. T. Hyde, A. M. Carnerup, A. G. Christy, M. J. Van Kranendonk, N. J. Welham

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

401 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We have synthesized inorganic micron-sized filaments, whose microstucture consists of silica-coated nanometer-sized carbonate crystals, arranged with strong orientational order. They exhibit noncrystallographic, curved, helical morphologies, reminiscent of biological forms. The filaments are similar to supposed cyanobacterial microfossils from the Precambrian Warrawoona chert formation in Western Australia, reputed to be the oldest terrestrial microfossils. Simple organic hydrocarbons, whose sources may also be abiotic and indeed inorganic, readily condense onto these filaments and subsequently polymerize under gentle heating to yield kerogenous products. Our results demonstrate that abiotic and morphologically complex microstructures that are identical to currently accepted biogenic materials can be synthesized inorganically.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1194-1197
Number of pages	4
Journal	Science
Volume	302
Issue number	5648
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1090163
Publication status	Published - 14 Nov 2003

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abstract = "We have synthesized inorganic micron-sized filaments, whose microstucture consists of silica-coated nanometer-sized carbonate crystals, arranged with strong orientational order. They exhibit noncrystallographic, curved, helical morphologies, reminiscent of biological forms. The filaments are similar to supposed cyanobacterial microfossils from the Precambrian Warrawoona chert formation in Western Australia, reputed to be the oldest terrestrial microfossils. Simple organic hydrocarbons, whose sources may also be abiotic and indeed inorganic, readily condense onto these filaments and subsequently polymerize under gentle heating to yield kerogenous products. Our results demonstrate that abiotic and morphologically complex microstructures that are identical to currently accepted biogenic materials can be synthesized inorganically.",

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AU - García-Ruiz, J. M.

AU - Hyde, S. T.

AU - Carnerup, A. M.

AU - Christy, A. G.

AU - Van Kranendonk, M. J.

AU - Welham, N. J.

PY - 2003/11/14

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AB - We have synthesized inorganic micron-sized filaments, whose microstucture consists of silica-coated nanometer-sized carbonate crystals, arranged with strong orientational order. They exhibit noncrystallographic, curved, helical morphologies, reminiscent of biological forms. The filaments are similar to supposed cyanobacterial microfossils from the Precambrian Warrawoona chert formation in Western Australia, reputed to be the oldest terrestrial microfossils. Simple organic hydrocarbons, whose sources may also be abiotic and indeed inorganic, readily condense onto these filaments and subsequently polymerize under gentle heating to yield kerogenous products. Our results demonstrate that abiotic and morphologically complex microstructures that are identical to currently accepted biogenic materials can be synthesized inorganically.

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VL - 302

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Self-Assembled Silica-Carbonate Structures and Detection of Ancient Microfossils

Abstract

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