EAGER: A Novel Approach to Study Earth's Oldest Environments and Biosphere: Tidal, Shelf, and Deep Ocean Habitats in the >3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, Greenland

研究地球最古老环境和生物圈的新方法：格陵兰岛3.7 Ga伊苏亚绿岩带的潮汐、陆架和深海栖息地诺拉·诺夫克（nora Noffke），格陵兰岛的伊苏亚绿岩带（IGB）包含地球历史上保存最古老的3.7 Ga沉积物。到目前为止，坚定的教条是，所有的IGB岩石都是高度变质的，因此地球上的信息？美国最古老的古环境和生命的起源可能会被抹去，或者被严重掩盖，以至于无法得出确切的结论。这个拟议的项目将通过证明IGB是地球上一个有价值的档案来打开一个新的视角。它只需要新开发的方法来读取这些独特的信息。的确，PI的前期工作？s的工作组指出，在IGB已经存在多种海洋古环境的可能性，包括潮汐、陆架和深海环境。该团队已经开发出一种新的方法来区分元沉积物中任何类型的原生旋回（潮汐旋回和米兰科维奇旋回）。基于这些初步但令人震惊的结果，PI想对这些独特的岩石序列进行探索性研究，并获得适当的数据来证实我们在照片上的初步观察。研究结果不符合科学界目前的知识现状。诺克从华盛顿特区到哥本哈根，再从哥本哈根到格陵兰岛的努克。从这里，他们将被直升机运送到研究区域。这次旅行将于2010年7月中旬至8月中旬进行。这是格陵兰当地天气（北极夏季）的最佳窗口期。PI将访问IGB的三个露头。根据GPS数据可以准确地知道这些位置。她将根据她在照片扫描中发现的潮汐和米兰诺维奇周期来测量岩石序列。此外，她将在实地进行构造地质测量，以获得对每个环境的构造框架的概述。这将使她后来了解薄片的结构结构，并诊断，如果明显的层理，沉积结构，如波纹交叉层理，是构造，变质或实际上是原始起源。探险队将在靠近内陆冰层的野外露营两周。岩石样本将由GEUS从伊苏亚运往弗吉尼亚州的诺福克。他们将再次乘坐直升机通过调查大本营返回，然后返回美国。所有3个地点的层理类型和厚度的现场数据将用于光谱分析。

EAGER: A novel approach to study Earth's oldest environments and biosphere: Tidal, shelf, and deep ocean habitats in the 3.7 Ga Isua Greenstone Belt, GreenlandNora Noffke, Old Dominion UniversityEAR-0929617ABSTRACTThe Isua Greenstone Belt (IGB), Greenland, comprises the oldest, 3.7 Ga sediments preserved in Earth history. Until now the firm dogma is that all IGB rocks would be highly metamorphosed and therefore information on Earth?s oldest paleoenvironment and the origin of life would be erased or so strongly masked that no firm conclusions can be drawn. This proposed project would open a new perspective by demonstrating that the IGB constitutes a valuable archive on Earth?s deepest time, and that it requires only newly developed methods to read this unique information.Indeed, the preliminary work of the PI?s working group points to the possibility that in the IGB already diverse marine paleoenvironments including a tidal, a shelf, and a deep ocean setting, existed. The team has developed a new method to distinguish any type of primary cyclicity in the meta-sediments (tidal and Milancovic cyclicity). Based on those preliminary yet stunning results, PI would like to conduct an exploratory study on those unique rock successions, and to gain appropriate data to confirm our initial observations on photos. The results are not conforming to the current status quo of knowledge of the scientific community. Noffke would travel from Washington, DC to Copenhagen and from there to Nuuk, Greenland. From here, they would be transported by helicopter to the study area itself. The trip should take place from mid of July to mid of August 2010. This is the best window with respect to the local weather in Greenland (the arctic summer). PI would visit three outcrops in the IGB. The locations are known exactly from GPS data. She would measure the rock successions with respect to the tidal and Milancovic cyclicities that she has detected in photo scans. In addition, she would conduct structural geological measurements in the field to gain an overview into the tectonic frame of each setting. This would allow her to later understand textural structures in thin-sections, and to diagnose, if apparent bedding, sedimentary structures such as ripple cross stratification, are of tectonic, metamorphic or indeed primary origin. The team would camp for 2 weeks in the field close to the inland ice. The rock samples would be shipped by GEUS from Isua to Norfolk, Virginia. They would return again by helicopter via the Survey base camp, and then travel back to the USA. The field data on the type and thickness of the bedding at all 3 locations will be used for spectral analyses.