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Terrestrial Analogues for Early Planetary Oceans: NIUAFO‘OU CALDERA LAKES (Tonga) and Their Geology, Water Chemistry, and Stromatolites

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Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 24))

Abstract

Earth is a unique planet in a special planetary system to have not only made biogenesis possible but also to sustain life’s long-term evolution toward multi­cellularity and self-recognition. The reconstruction of Earth’s history relies on evidence recovered from its rock record. From this record, we know that life originated prior to 3.8 Ga (e.g., Schidlowski et al., 1979; Mojzsis et al., 1996), that multicellular life arose at around 0.6 Ga, and that biologically controlled, enzymatic biomineralization started with the beginning of the Phanerozoic eon, at around 0.54 Ga ago (e.g., Lowenstam and Margulis, 1980; Simkiss, 1989). Geochemical forcing most probably triggered these events (Kazmierczak and Degens, 1985; Kazmierczak et al., 1985; Kempe and Degens, 1985; Kempe and Kazmierczak, 1994; Kazmierczak and Kempe, 2004; Brennan et al., 2004). The nature of this forcing, however, remains unknown, and one can only formulate working hypotheses. The Earth system is governed by too many parameters, excluding the possibility of building models, which, by representing all the physical interactions, would create life. Therefore, we rather have to ask, what are the necessary environmental conditions under which life could have been initiated and can we find such environments even today in order to study these primordial conditions?

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following persons, without whom the expedition would not have been as successful as it was: Dipl. Geol. Ralph Hinsch, Geoforschungszentrum, Potsdam, research diver; Mrs. Aleiteisi L. Tangi from the Prime Minister’s Office for managing the official part of our visit; Mr. Semisi Halaholo, Government Representative on Niuafo‘ou, who housed us at his home; Mr. Tu‘a Fifita, “second in command” on the island, who provided transport; Mr. Kulima Lama, who rented his boat to us and transferred it from the wharf to the lake; Mr. To‘aho Lama, who served as a captain for the boat; Mr. Suliano Lama, representative of Royal Tongan Airlines; Mr. Salomon Vaikele, for help in interpretation and showing us around the island; Mr. Sione Eclipse, brother of the Speaker of Tongan Parliament, for his information about the old times on Niuafo‘ou; Sisters Annemarie and Pauline from the Catholic church for inviting us to dinner and bringing us pudding and cake when we were longing for some more European dishes; and Mrs. Siangana Palu, from the Royal Tonga Airlines, for arranging extra flights. We are also indebted to all the help offered by the Heilala Guesthouse at Tofua/Nukualofa and their proprietors, Waltraud and Sven Quick. We acknowledge Cyprian Kulicki, Krzysztof Malkowski, and Zbigniew Strak (all Institute of Paleobiology PAS, Warsaw) for technical assistance. The research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; Ke 287, 19/1) and the Polish Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Applied Geosciences, TU-Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstrasse 9, D-64287, Darmstadt, Germany

    Stephan Kempe

  2. Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Twarda 51-55, PL-00818, Warsaw, Poland

    Józef Kazmierczak

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  1. Stephan Kempe
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  2. Józef Kazmierczak
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Correspondence to Stephan Kempe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geophysik, Astrophysik und Meteorologie, Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, Graz, 8010, Austria

    Arnold Hanslmeier

  2. , Physical Geology and Global Cycles, Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG), Schnittspahnstraße 9, Darmstadt, 64287, Germany

    Stephan Kempe

  3. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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Kempe, S., Kazmierczak, J. (2012). Terrestrial Analogues for Early Planetary Oceans: NIUAFO‘OU CALDERA LAKES (Tonga) and Their Geology, Water Chemistry, and Stromatolites. In: Hanslmeier, A., Kempe, S., Seckbach, J. (eds) Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4966-5_13

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