Chemical gardening

Chemical gardening refers to the process of creating complex biological-looking structures by mixing chemicals together wherever large amounts of such chemicals naturally occur. More simply, forming natural minerals to mimic biology. For example, mixing iron-rich particles with alkaline liquids containing the chemicals silicate or carbonate have created biological-looking structures. Such structures are actually non-biological even though they may appear to be biological and/or fossils.[1][2][3] According to researchers, "Chemical reactions like these have been studied for hundreds of years but they had not previously been shown to mimic these tiny iron-rich structures inside rocks. These results call for a re-examination of many ancient real-world examples to see if they are more likely to be fossils or non-biological mineral deposits."[1][2]

This article is about chemical structures that look biological but are not. For other uses, see Fossils, Gardening, and Victor A. Tiedjens.

One use of the study of chemical gardening is to be better able to distinguish biological structures, including fossils, from non-biological structures on the planet Mars.[1][2]

References
  1. University of Edinburgh (27 November 2019). "Solving fossil mystery could aid quest for ancient life on Mars". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  2. McMahon, Sean (27 November 2019). "Earth's earliest and deepest purported fossils may be iron-mineralized chemical gardens". Proceedings of the Royal Society B. doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.2410. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  3. Steinbock, Oliver; et al. (1 March 2019). "The fertile physics of chemical gardens". physics Today. 69 (3): 44. doi:10.1063/PT.3.3108. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
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