Abstract
ATTEMPTS to find evidence for the existence of life in extraterrestrial bodies (confined at present to meteorites) have led (in the absence of morphologically intact biological material) to an increasing search for “biological markers” which will relate the spectrum of organic compounds in such materials with biological precursors1. The geological formations on Earth provide the only material currently available for the study of any correlations which might exist between organic matter (possibly degraded and amorphous) produced from known biological sources and a spectrum of organic compounds which results from its further geochemical degradation.
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BROOKS, J., SHAW, G. Identity of Sporopollenin with Older Kerogen and New Evidence for the Possible Biological Source of Chemicals in Sedimentary Rocks. Nature 220, 678–679 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1038/220678a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/220678a0
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