Ancient diamonds 'may reveal earliest life on Earth'

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Ancient diamonds 'may reveal earliest life on Earth'



Last updated at 12:55 PM on 03rd July 2008


Life may have appeared only a short time after the Earth was formed out of a swirling disc of gas and dust, scientists said today.

They believe 4.2 billion-year-old diamonds could contain an imprint of this earliest existence. If they are right it will mean a major re-think about the emergence of biological activity on Earth.

Ancient diamonds were discovered in
the Jack Hills of Western Australia

The most ancient life forms known were single-celled organisms that did not require oxygen and lived 3.5 billion years ago.

But the diamonds, containing a type of 'light' carbon normally associated with living organisms, raises the possibility of life existing at least 700 million years earlier.

The diamonds were trapped inside extremely old zircon crystals recovered in 1983 from the Jack Hills of Western Australia.

Resarch leader Dr Alexander Nemchin, from Curtin University of Technology in Australia said: 'We believe this find to be the oldest terrestrial light carbon reservoir discovered so far.

'It opens up the possibility of biological activity during the period not long after the Earth's formation.'

The carbon was found in 22 diamonds and graphite grains obtained from 18 of the zircon crystals. The latest finding was reported in the journal Nature.

'The discovery challenges our fundamental understanding of processes active in the early history of the Earth,' Dr Nemchin said.

'It suggests that life may well have appeared on Earth long before the period of heavy-meteorite bombardment believed by some to have initiated the emergence of life on Earth.'


Ancient diamonds 'may reveal earliest life on Earth' | Mail Online