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Chapter 10. Bacterial Paleontology Lessons

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The development of bacterial paleontology has shaken some generally accepted scientific paradigms in research on the Archean–Proterozoic evolution of the Earth. Thus, bacterial and paleontological studies occasionally led to a revision of paleogeographical constructions. This paper discusses the main achievements of this rather young scientific discipline, including the finds of ancient prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms and their connection with the early Earth’s environments, as well as the finds of fossilized microorganisms in carbonaceous chondrites (meteorites), which change our attitude toward the problems of panspermia and the origin of life.

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Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.

Notes

  1. Typically, such estimates are associated with the interpretation of the crystallization temperature of various minerals in the rocks of the earth’s crust during that period. However, they have nothing to do with surface temperatures. Subsurface hundreds of degrees of molten matter are easily thermally insulated by a crust of cooled rocks just a few tens of meters thick. In areas of modern volcanism, houses are built, plants are planted, etc. on the surface, while slightly below the surface the temperature reaches hundreds of degrees. At the same time, the average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now 15°.

  2. The study of movement tracks provides extremely important information about the level of organization of the organisms. For example, cm-sized burrow marks clearly indicate that we deal with coelomate animals. Moreover, they indicate the presence of not only a coelome, but also muscles, a blood circulatory system, and a primitive heart (hearts). The same conclusions can be drawn if there are burrowing holes of the same size. The author has already drawn attention to the presence of movement tracks and burrows in rocks 1.6–1.4 Ga old. Among the most interesting ichnofossils are the burrows (1.6 Ga), described by E. Kauffman and J. Steidtman in rocks of North America, and movement tracks collected by B.B. Shishkin in rocks of the Chernaya Rechka Formation (1.4 Ga) in the northwest of the Siberian Platform (Rozanov, 2006).

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  1. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117647, Moscow, Russia

    A. Yu. Rozanov

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Translated by S. Nikolaeva

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Rozanov, A.Y. Chapter 10. Bacterial Paleontology Lessons. Paleontol. J. 57 (Suppl 2), S205–S210 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030124600100

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