Volcanic Glasses as Habitat for Microfossils: Evidence from the Early Paleoproterozoic Pillow Lavas of Karelia and their Modern Analogues in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge

摘要

Microbial complexes were identified in the volcanic glasses from the ancient (2.4-Ga basaltic pillow-lavas of Karelia) and modern (pillow lavas of the Mid-Atlantic ridge) volcanic rocks. It was shown that their microbial colonization is likely to occur by the same mechanism. Thus, well preserved pillow lavas, which occupy spacious fields in the Archaean and Early Paleoproterozoic greenstone belts, are promising objects for the search for the earliest traces of life on Earth.