Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils
Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils
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DOI：
10.1126/science.1090163
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发表时间：
2003-11-14
期刊：
影响因子：
56.9
通讯作者：
Welham, NJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
García-Ruiz, JM;Hyde, ST;Welham, NJ
我们合成了无机微米级长丝，其微观结构由二氧化硅包覆的纳米碳酸盐晶体组成，具有很强的取向秩序。它们表现出非晶体的、弯曲的、螺旋的形态，使人联想到生物形态。的。悲叹类似于西澳大利亚州前寒武纪Warrawoona燧石地层中被认为是最古老的陆生微化石的蓝藻微化石。简单的有机碳氢化合物，其来源也可能是非生物的，甚至是无机的，很容易凝结成这些。然后在温和加热下聚合，产生干酪质产物。我们的研究结果表明，与目前公认的生物材料相同的非生物和形态复杂的微观结构是可以无机合成的。
We have synthesized inorganic micron-sized filaments, whose microstucture consists of silica-coated nanometer-sized carbonate crystals, arranged with strong orientational order. They exhibit noncrystallographic, curved, helical morphologies, reminiscent of biological forms. The. laments are similar to supposed cyanobacterial microfossils from the Precambrian Warrawoona chert formation in Western Australia, reputed to be the oldest terrestrial microfossils. Simple organic hydrocarbons, whose sources may also be abiotic and indeed inorganic, readily condense onto these. laments and subsequently polymerize under gentle heating to yield kerogenous products. Our results demonstrate that abiotic and morphologically complex microstructures that are identical to currently accepted biogenic materials can be synthesized inorganically.