Manuel Reinhardt

Georg-August-Universität Göttingen | GAUG · Department of Geobiology

Available under: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gbi.12284 Fossil derivatives of isorenieratene, an accessory pigment in brown‐colored green sulfur bacteria, are often used as tracers for photic zone anoxia through Earth's history, but their diagenetic behavior is still incompletely understood. Here, we assess the preservation of isor...

Organic matter in Archean hydrothermal cherts may provide an important archive for molecular traces of the earliest life on Earth. The geobiological interpretation of this archive, however, requires a sound understanding of organic matter preservation and alteration in hydrothermal systems. Here we report on organic matter (including molecular bios...

The Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer (MOMA) onboard the ExoMars 2020 rover (to be landed in March 2021) utilizes pyrolysis gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with the aim to detect organic molecules in martian (sub-) surface materials. Pyrolysis, however, may thermally destroy and transform organic matter depending on the temperature and na...

Earth’s crust contains a substantial proportion of global biomass, hosting microbial life up to several kilometers depth. Yet, knowledge of the evolution and extent of life in this environment remains elusive and patchy. Here we present isotopic, molecular and morphological signatures for deep ancient life in vein mineral specimens from mines distr...

The emergence and diversification of eukaryotes during the Proterozoic is one of the most fundamental evolutionary developments in Earth’s history. The ca. 1-billion-year-old Lakhanda Lagerstätte (Siberia, Russia) contains a wealth of eukaryotic body fossils and offers an important glimpse into their ecosystem. Seeking to complement the paleontolog...

The 3.42 Ga Buck Reef Chert (Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa) provides a rare sequence of exceptionally well preserved silicified microbial mats, containing abundant kerogen. We investigated this macromolecular organic material (cherts from drill cores, Barberton Drilling Project - Peering into the Cradle of Life) on structural (microscopy,...

Available under: http://hdl.handle.net/21.11130/00-1735-0000-0003-C1C2-7 The search for extraterrestrial life is one of the greatest scientific quests of our time. The ESA/Roscosmos ExoMars 2020 rover mission seeks to find evidence for past or modern life on Mars by investigating (sub-)surface sediments at Oxia Planum for molecular biosignatures....

Organic matter in Archean hydrothermal cherts may provide an important archive for molecular traces of earliest life on Earth. The geobiological interpretation of this archive, however, requires a sound understanding of organic matter preservation and alteration in hydrothermal systems. Here we report on organic matter (including molecular biosigna...

Archaean hydrothermal chert veins commonly contain abundant organic carbon of uncertain origin (abiotic vs. biotic). In this study, we analysed kerogen contained in a hydrothermal chert vein from the ca. 3.5 Ga Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Western Australia). Catalytic hydropyrolysis (HyPy) of this kerogen yielded n-alkanes up to n-C22, with...

Archaean hydrothermal chert veins commonly contain abundant organic carbon of uncertain origin (abiotic vs. biotic). In this study, we analysed kerogen contained in a hydrothermal chert vein from the ca. 3.5 Ga old Dresser Formation (Pilbara Craton, Western Australia). Catalytic hydropyrolysis (HyPy) of this kerogen yielded n-alkanes up to n-C22, w...