Liquid water is essential for life as we know it, ie carbon-based life. Although other
compound-solvent pairs that could exist in very specific physical environments could be …

The origin of life is one of the most fundamental questions of humanity. It has been and is
still being addressed by a wide range of researchers from different fields, with different …

Critical to the origin of life are the ingredients of life, of course, but also the physical and
chemical conditions in which prebiotic chemical reactions can take place. These factors …

New analytical approaches and discoveries are demanding fresh thinking about the early
fossil record. The 1.88-Ga Gunflint chert provides an important benchmark for the analysis of …

Geological heritage sites (geosites) are sites that contain information about the state and the
dynamics of the Earth. Paleogeographical (paleoenvironmental) geosites preserve …

Abstract The Middle Marker–horizon H1 of the Hooggenoeg Formation–is the oldest
sedimentary horizon in the Barberton greenstone belt and one of the oldest sedimentary …

The early Hadean eon (> 4Ga) may have had a periodically ice-covered global ocean and
limited subaerial landmass, and this could have resulted in infrequent lightning occurrence …

Abstract The∼ 3.48 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is
a key geological unit for the study of Earth's earliest life and the habitats it occupied. Here …

The birth of modern life on Earth can be linked to the adequate supply of nutrients into the
oceans. In this paper, we evaluate the relative supply of nutrients into the ocean. These …

Filamentous microstructures from the 3.46 billion year (Ga)-old Apex chert of Western
Australia have been interpreted as remnants of Earth's oldest cellular life, but their purported …