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Science 23 April 1965:
Vol. 148. no. 3669, pp. 461 - 472
DOI: 10.1126/science.148.3669.461
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Articles

Paleobiology of a Precambrian Shale

Geology, organic geochemistry, and paleontology are applied to the problem of detection of ancient life

Elso S. Barghoorn 1, Warren G. Meinschein 2, and J. William Schopf 3

1 Botanical Museum at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
2 Esso Research and Engineering Company, Linden, New Jersey
3 Department of biology at Harvard University

Investigations have been made of crude oil, pristane, phytane, steranetype and optically active alkanes, porphyrins, microfossils, and the stable isotopes of carbon and of sulfur found in the Nonesuch shale of Precambrian age from Northern Michigan. These sediments are approximately 1 billion years old. Geologic evidence indicates that they were deposited in a nearshore deltaic environment. Porphyrins are found in the siltstones but not in the crude oils of the Nonesuch formation—evidence that these chemical fossils are adsorbed or absorbed and immobile. This immobility makes it highly unlikely that these porphyrins could have moved from younger formations into the Nonesuch sediments, and the widely disseminated particulate organic matters and fossils in this Precambrian shale are certainly indigenous.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Water Washing of Proterozoic Oil in the Midcontinent Rift System.
(2002)
AAPG Bulletin 86, 1113-1127
Carbon Isotopic Studies of Organic Matter in Precambrian Rocks.
D. Oehler, D. Z. Oehler, J. W. Schopf, and K. A. Kvenvolden (1972)
Science 175, 1246-1248
   Abstract »    PDF »
Fungal Attack on Rock: Solubilization and Altered Infrared Spectra.
M. P. Silverman, M. P. Silverman, and E. F. Munoz (1970)
Science 169, 985-987
   Abstract »    PDF »
Search for Alkanes of 15 to 30 Carbon Atom Length.
W. G. Meinschein, W. G. Meinschein, E. Cordes, and V. J. Shiner Jr. (1970)
Science 167, 753-754
   Abstract »    PDF »
Alga-Like Fossils from the Early Precambrian of South Africa.
J. W. Schopf, J. W. Schopf, and E. S. Barghoorn (1967)
Science 156, 508-512
   Abstract »    PDF »
Microorganisms Three Billion Years Old from the Precambrian of South Africa.
E. S. Barghoorn, E. S. Barghoorn, and J. W. Schopf (1966)
Science 152, 758-763
   Abstract »    PDF »
Soudan Formation: Organic Extracts of Early Precambrian Rocks.
W. G. Meinschein and W. G. Meinschein (1965)
Science 150, 601-605
   Abstract »    PDF »
Microorganisms from the Late Precambrian of Central Australia.
E. S. Barghoorn and J. W. Schopf (1965)
Science 150, 337-339
   Abstract »    PDF »
Electron Microscopy of Fossil Bacteria Two Billion Years Old.
J. W. Schopf, J. W. Schopf, E. S. Barghoorn, M. D. Maser, and R. O. Gordon (1965)
Science 149, 1365-1367
   Abstract »    PDF »


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