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

Old Dominion University Research Foundation, Norfolk VA

Investigators

Abstract

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 Nora Noffke, Old Dominion University EAR-1232499 The 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 project allows analyses demonstrating the IGB constitutes a valuable archive on Earth's deepest time. Linda Hinnov's newly developed methods allow the PIs to reveal this unique information by analyzing bedding characters in shallow-marine deposits. The results will allow the understanding of the Earth-Moon constellation 3.7 Ga ago, the number of days per year, and possibly seasonality.