Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim, Norway.
Geobiology. 2011 Jan;9(1):2-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2010.00261.x. Epub 2010 Nov 10.
Graphite, interpreted as altered bioorganic matter in an early Archean, ca. 3.83-Ga-old quartz-amphibole-pyroxene gneiss on Akilia Island, Greenland, has previously been claimed to be the earliest trace of life on Earth. Our petrographic and Raman spectroscopy data from this gneiss reveal the occurrence of graphitic material with the structure of nano-crystalline to crystalline graphite in trails and clusters of CO₂, CH₄ and H₂O bearing fluid inclusions. Irregular particles of graphitic material without a fluid phase, representing decrepitated fluid inclusions are common in such trails too, but occur also as dispersed individual or clustered particles. The occurrence of graphitic material associated with carbonic fluid inclusions is consistent with an abiologic, fluid deposited origin during a poly-metamorphic history. The evidence for fluid-deposited graphitic material greatly complicates any claim about remnants of early life in the Akilia rock.
在格陵兰岛阿基利岛的约 38.3 亿年前的石英-角闪石-辉石岩中，石墨被解释为早期太古代的生物有机物质的变化，此前曾被认为是地球上最早的生命痕迹。我们从这块片麻岩中获得的岩石学和拉曼光谱数据显示，存在着具有纳米晶到结晶石墨结构的石墨材料，这些石墨材料出现在含有 CO₂、CH₄和 H₂O 的流体包裹体的轨迹和簇中。在这些轨迹中也常见到没有流相的不规则石墨材料颗粒，代表着碎裂的流体包裹体，但也存在分散的单个或聚集的颗粒。与碳酸流体包裹体相关的石墨材料的出现与多变质历史期间的流体沉淀起源一致。与流体沉淀石墨材料有关的证据极大地复杂化了在阿基利亚岩石中发现早期生命遗迹的任何说法。
