Early Earth and Biosignatures

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Research in the Early Earth and Biosignatures group centres around how the early Earth evolved, how it worked and how it supported early life. The group employs an interdisciplinary approach to addressing outstanding questions related to early volcanism, geodynamics, biogeochemical cycles and the evidence for life on early Earth and potentially other rocky planets. We aim to understand the formation of the earliest continental and oceanic lithosphere and early biosphere-ocean-atmosphere processes.

Early Earth and Biosignatures scientists:

Leif Erik Pedersen
Karen Cecilie Johannesen

An artists reconstruction of the earth c. 3.5 billion years ago, we want to know: was it really like this? source: Smithsonian

Photo:

CGB

About Early Earth and Biosignatures

Our group is interested in characterizing Early Earth environments also when, where and how life emerged. We aim to reconstruct the environmental and geodynamic controls on the emerging microbial biosphere and to develop new textural and geochemical indicators (so-called biosignatures) of past life....

Research Overview

See what projects the Early Earth and Biosignatures theme is working on now! (Updated June 2014)

Theme Goals and Methods

The Early Earth and Biosignatures group focusses on understanding early Earth evolution and the search for the earliest traces of life in a range of Archean environments. The group is also working on field sites in the Barberton greenstone belt that can be used to understand habitability on the...

Astrobiology

Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. Research on early Earth environments and the earliest traces of life is central to understanding how life emerged and evolved on our young planet. Using early Earth as an astrobiological baseline, we can...

20.01.2016