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Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection pp 291–311Cite as

What Can Carbon Isotopes Tell Us About Sources of Reduced Carbon in Rocks from the Early Earth?

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Abstract

Carbon isotopes have been widely used as a tool to search for evidence of life in rocks from the early Earth. Many of the oldest rocks on Earth have been found to contain isotopically light reduced carbon, which many researchers have interpreted to have a biological origin. While light carbon isotopic compositions are consistent with biologically produced organic matter, alternative non-biological sources that might also explain the data have not been given thorough consideration. A review of the isotopic composition of potential non-biological sources of reduced carbon to the early Earth indicates that many have light isotopic signatures that encompass the values found in ancient rocks, indicating that the reduced carbon in rocks from the early Archean could plausibly derive from non-biological sources. These observations indicate that the evidence for life provided by carbon isotopes remains far from conclusive, and additional criteria need to be applied before it can be convincingly determined whether the reduced carbon found in the oldest rocks on Earth has a biological or non-biological origin.

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Acknowledgments

This author’s research on this subject and preparation of this manuscript have been supported by the US National Science Foundation Earth Sciences Directorate through grants OCE-0550800 and EAR-0636056.

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  1. CU Center for Astrobiology & Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, 392, Boulder, CO, 80309-0392, USA

    Thomas M. McCollom

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Correspondence to Thomas M. McCollom .

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  1. Dept. Earth Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Queensland, Australia

    Suzanne D. Golding

  2. Palmwoods, 4555, Queensland, Australia

    Miryam Glikson

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McCollom, T.M. (2011). What Can Carbon Isotopes Tell Us About Sources of Reduced Carbon in Rocks from the Early Earth?. In: Golding, S., Glikson, M. (eds) Earliest Life on Earth: Habitats, Environments and Methods of Detection. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8794-2_11

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