Pilbara Craton

Australia map. Pilbara Region is coloured in red.

The Pilbara Craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere located in Pilbara, Western Australia.

The Pilbara Craton is one of only two pristine Archaean 3.6-2.7 Ga (billion years ago) crusts identified on the Earth, along with the Kaapvaal Craton in South Africa. Both locations may have once been part of the Vaalbara Supercontinent or the continent of Ur.

In May 2017, evidence of the earliest known life on land may have been found in 3.48-billion-year-old geyserite and other related mineral deposits (often found around hot springs and geysers) uncovered in the Pilbara Craton.[1][2]

The earliest direct evidence of life on Earth may be fossils of microorganisms permineralized in 3.465-billion-year-old Australian Apex chert rocks.[3][4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Staff (9 May 2017). "Oldest evidence of life on land found in 3.48-billion-year-old Australian rocks". Phys.org. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  2. ↑ Djokic, Tara; Van Kranendonk, Martin J.; Campbell, Kathleen A.; Walter, Malcolm R.; Ward, Colin R. (9 May 2017). "Earliest signs of life on land preserved in ca. 3.5 Ga hot spring deposits". Nature Communications. doi:10.1038/ncomms15263. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  3. ↑ Tyrell, Kelly April (18 December 2017). "Oldest fossils ever found show life on Earth began before 3.5 billion years ago". University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  4. ↑ Schopf, J. William; Kitajima, Kouki; Spicuzza, Michael J.; Kudryavtsev, Anatolly B.; Valley, John W. (2017). "SIMS analyses of the oldest known assemblage of microfossils document their taxon-correlated carbon isotope compositions". PNAS. doi:10.1073/pnas.1718063115. Retrieved 27 December 2017.

Bibliography

  • Kato, Y.; Nakamura, K. (2003). "Origin and global tectonic significance of Early Archean cherts from the Marble Bar greenstone belt, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia". Precambrian Research. 125 (3–4): 191–243. doi:10.1016/S0301-9268(03)00043-3.
  • Oliver, N. H. S.; Cawood, P.A (2001). "Early tectonic dewatering and brecciation on the overturned sequence at Marble Bar, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia: dome-related or not?". Precambrian Research. 105 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1016/S0301-9268(00)00098-X.
  • Terabayashi, M.; Masada, Y.; Ozawa, H. (2003). "Archean ocean-floor metamorphism in the North Pole area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia". Precambrian Research. 127 (1–3): 167–180. doi:10.1016/S0301-9268(03)00186-4.
  • Zegers, E.; de Wit, M. J.; Dann, J.; White, S. H. (1998). "Vaalbara, Earth's oldest assembled continent? A combined structural, geochronological, and palaeomagnetic test". Terra Nova. 10 (5): 250–259. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3121.1998.00199.x.

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