ERC Consolidator Grant · 2016
Uranium isotope fractionation: a novel biosignature to identify microbial metabolism on early Earth
Prokaryotes (archaea and bacteria) are the most abundant form of life both at present and throughout paleohistory and exhibit exquisite metabolic diversity, unmatched by eukaryotes. On early Earth, the absence of atmospheric oxygen led to the emergence of anaerobic microbial metabolisms such as methanogenesis, sulfate reduction, iron reduction, and denitrification. Non-isotope and isotope tools used to study ancient microbial life have provided evidence for each of these types of metabolisms in the rock record. However, there remains much uncertainty and debate regarding this evidence, primarily because of confounding effects of abiotic processes, and ambiguity in interpretation of isotopic…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.
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