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Nucleosynthesis
Matter and the Origin of Elements:
•Much of what we know today of the distant past is
secondhand information.
•Elementary particles and chemical elements are ashes
of star explosions.
•Background radiation known from FOUR regions of
the electromagnetic spectrum; radio waves,
microwaves, x-rays and gamma rays. These are
remnants of special events.
•The background of the radio sky are uniform and
basically the sum total of all universal radio emissions.
•Penzias and Wilson won the Nobel Prize in 1978 for
work on 3K microwave background radiation, red-
shifted remnants of photons moving away from 3000K
flash.
Microwave, 3K, background came into existence ~
500,000 years after Big Bang.
An ocean underlying an
anoxic CO2 rich atmosphere
should have been different
in composition, FeS2 would
not be oxidized
A dense CO2 atmosphere
HCO3 would be in
equilibrium with this, thus
the bicarbonate might be
comparable to chloride.
“Soda Ocean” Concept
•High pH and high pCO2
very high HCO3- probably
much saltier
•Low Ca and Mg-
precipitated up in dissolved
•Alkalis mostly Na and K
served as counter ions for
bicarbonate
•Soda ocean like worlds
largest carbonate lakes-
Lake Van
•These lakes hold
dissolved carbonates
that exceed ocean
bicarbonates by 1000 x
before sodium
carbonate precipitation
PREBIOTIC
SYNTHESIS
Energy sources:
Sparks source
most extensively
investigated.
Not formed
directly in electric
charge but resulted
from several
reactions of
smaller molecules.
1969
carbonaceous
chondrite, large
amount of amino
acids
Now recent
information on
interstellar
molecules:
CH2O,
HCN, CH3CHO,
HC2CN
• oldest fossils (anaerobic organisms) date to
~3.5 billion years ago
– graphite concentrations (carbon) in
many sedimentary rocks
– stromatolites (mats of cyanobacteria or
blue-green algae)
• microbial life lacking a nucleus (prokaryotes)
– each cell chemically self-sufficient
• many microbes flourished in the hot oceans,
probably around volcanic vents
• metabolized hydrogen-rich compounds and/or
organic materials to derive energy
– sulfate reducing bacteria that produce
H2S
– fermentative bacteria that produce CO2
and alcohols
– methanogenic bacteria
• reduced meteoric bombardment allowed
anaerobic microbes to diversify
• many adapted to new biological niches – some
on land – but stayed single celled
•
• ~2.8 billion years ago bacteria (cyanobacteria)
developed photosynthetic ability
• photosynthesis produced O2 which was
released into the oceans and atmosphere
• rise in atmospheric O2 levels occurred
between 2.4 and 1.8 billion years ago
•
Faint Sun and Decline of
CO2
High CO2 counteracted
climatic effects of a faint
sun. Loss of CO2 as
carbonates weathered
Free oxygen absent until
about 2 bya
Disappearance of uraninite
and pyrite deposits and
appearance of “Red Beds”
Deep ocean still anoxic
based on banded iron
formations BIFs (ferrous
iron)
As O2 increased so did
ozone, decreasing UV early
Proterozoic proliferation of
phytos 2 bya
Earth inhabited by
life at start of
sedimentary record
3.8 bya
Biosedimentary-3.5
bya stromatolites
Sedimentary
organic carbon and
derivatives:
Kerogen and
graphite
molecular oxygen in air and
water became abundant
by ~2.3 billion years ago
• accompanied by
conversion of a fraction
of the O2 into a tri-
atomic form
• known as ozone
(O3)
• formed a protective
layer in the
atmosphere
(reduced ultraviolet
radiation)
• eukaryotic metabolism
began after O2 had risen
~1% of its present
abundance
• probably occurred ~2
billion years ago,
according to the fossil
record