The oldest fossil life on Earth, its geological context and life on Mars

Details The oldest fossil life on Earth, its geological context and life on Mars The oldest fossil life on Earth, its geological context and life on Mars

Aug 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001esasp.496...81w&link_type=abstract

In: Exo-/astro-biology. Proceedings of the First European Workshop, 21 - 23 May 2001, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy. Eds.: P. Ehrenfreu

Biology

Extraterrestrial Life, Mars: Life, Earth

Scientific paper

Life on Earth, as the only example that we have, provides the only available vehicle of study for potential extraterrestrial life. Given the similarities in the early histories of the terrestrial planets, life could have arisen on Mars or Venus, as well as elsewhere in our solar system. The most suitable candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life is Mars. Since Mars has not been subjected to the destructive plate tectonic forces which have eliminated the early crustal record from the Earth, there is also the possibility that Mars may harbour important evidence relating to the origin of life in which is lacking on Earth. Nevertheless, the remains of the early terrestrial record document a planetary context for the origin of life and its early evolution which was very different to that of the modern day Earth. Submerged protocontinental platforms provided shallow water environments in a volcanically and hydrothermally dynamic environment, subject to bolide impacts. Early life was abundant in these environments. Early Mars differed in that it was not water covered. However, this may not have been relevant for the surface-bound processes leading to the origin of life and its distribution.

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