Abderrazak El Albani

Abderrazak El Albani is a French-Moroccan sedimentologist, Professor at University of Poitiers at the Hydrasa laboratory (IC2MP - CNRS).[1] He is significant for having discovered the oldest known fossils of multicellular organisms in the 2.1 billion year-old black shales of the Paleoproterozoic Francevillian Group Fossil Formation in Gabon,[2] which shed new light on the origin of multicellular organisms.

Biography

French-Moroccan geologist, born in Marrakesh, he studied in the University of Lille, from which he received a doctorate after defending a thesis on geology and sedimentary geochemistry. Between 1996 and 1998, he spent a postdoctoral period at the University of Kiel, in Germany. He published several scientific articles on Paleo-environments, Geobiology and Diagenesis in sedimentary basins. He then joined the Hydrasa laboratory[3] (University of Poitiers – CNRS) in 1999. He was appointed Professor in 2010.

Major discovery

In 2008, A. El Albani was the head of an international team which discovered fossil and multicellular forms of life at the macro-scale in a fossiliferous site situated in the province of Haut Ogooué in Gabon. In July 2010, this research work made the cover of the scientific magazine Nature.[4] The study of these fossils disclosed the emergence of a multicellular, complex and organized life in Precambrian rocks as old as 2.1 billion years.[5] The discovery of these organisms moved back the date of the emergence of a multicellular life of 1.5 billion year.[6] This discovery has also increased our current knowledge of the evolution of the biosphere on Earth.

References

  1. ↑ Hydrasa laboratory Archived April 5, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Albani, Abderrazak El; Bengtson, Stefan; Canfield, Donald E.; Bekker, Andrey; Macchiarelli, Roberto; Mazurier, Arnaud; Hammarlund, Emma U.; Boulvais, Philippe; Dupuy, Jean-Jacques (2010-07-01). "Large colonial organisms with coordinated growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago". Nature. 466 (7302): 100–104. doi:10.1038/nature09166. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 20596019.
  3. ↑ HydrASA - Clays, soils and alterations
  4. ↑ Maxmen, Amy (2010-06-30). "Ancient macrofossils unearthed in West Africa". Nature News. doi:10.1038/news.2010.323.
  5. ↑ "Discovery of a complex, multicellular life from over two billion years ago - CNRS Web site - CNRS". www2.cnrs.fr. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  6. ↑ Up Front: Abderrazak El Albani on the Discovery of Ancient Multicellular Life

Books

El Albani, A., Macchiarelli, R., Meunier, A. 2016. Aux origines de la vie - une nouvelle histoire de l'évolution. Dunod Paris, 224 pp., many b/w pictures in the text, 8 tables of color photos. ISBN 978-2-10-073791-8.

Troppenz, U.-M., Schmälzle, D. 2015. Wohin die Spuren führen - das neue Bild des Präkambriums: Franceville-, Montana und Ediacarafauna. Tetrada Parchim, 192 pp., 162 photos, 2 time tables. ISBN 978-3-00-047871-0.

Troppenz, U.-M. 2017. The New Precambrian - no "boring", but bustling billions in a succession of evolutions and global catastrophes. Tetrada Parchim, 140 pp., 115 photos, 2 time tables. ISBN 978-3-00-054215-2.



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