Skip to main content
Log in

Geology

Evidence of life in Earth's oldest rocks

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

When did life first arise on Earth? Analysis of ancient rocks in Greenland that contain structures interpreted as bacterial in origin suggest that Earth might have been an abode for life much earlier than previously thought. See Letter p.535

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Figure 1: A 3.7-billion-year-old rock with signs of associated life.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Nutman, A. P., Bennett, V. C., Friend, C. R. L., Van Kranendonk, M. J. & Chivas, A. R. Nature 537, 535–538 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Allwood, A. C., Walter, M. R., Kamber, B. S., Marshall, C. P. & Burch, I. W. Nature 441, 714–718 (2006).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Schidlowski, M., Appel, P. W. U., Eichmann, R. & Junge, C. E. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 43, 189–199 (1979).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Rosing, M. T. Science 283, 674–676 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Grotzinger, J. P. et al. Science 343, 1242777 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abigail C. Allwood.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Early life: Origins of multicellularity

Palaeontology: Respect for stromatolites

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Allwood, A. Evidence of life in Earth's oldest rocks. Nature 537, 500–501 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19429

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19429

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Navigation