Signs of early arsenic-fueled life found in Barberton Greenstone Belt

The Barberton Greenstone Belt continues to attract scientists from around the world who are interested in studying ancient environments and reminiscence of life that are billions of years old. Recent visitors of the Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas, USA) included Dr Kimberly Myers and Prof. Michael Tice, as well as geology student Edward Marshall from The University of Texas at Austin (USA).

Drs. Myers and Tice brought a portable instrument with X-ray fluorescence capabilities, which can read the elemental composition of rocks in just seconds. “This type of instrument has never been used in Barberton research, and will make a novel and valuable contribution,” said Prof. Christoph Heubeck, a prominent Barberton researcher and professor at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany.

Drs Myers and Heubeck collaborated with local conservationist Tony Ferrar to describe the composition of rocks in Ferrar’s collection, which will go on display in Cape Town to raise awareness about scientific interest in the Barberton Greenstone Belt.

The Texas researchers measured arsenic content in sediments that may show that the toxic element benefited early life in the same way that oxygen benefits modern life. This discovery would provide the earliest evidence of arsenic-fueled life on the planet, a concept proposed by many researchers, but not yet proven. Myers and Tice also detected elevated arsenic levels in close proximity to an illegal mining site.

Illegal mining has led to massive arsenic contamination in other countries and has caused devastating health issues in local populations. Hopefully this discovery will contribute to stopping illegal mining before issues arise for the Barberton area.

*The travel and research for this project were supported entirely by the United States National Science Foundation under Award No. (1452347) and by Bruker Corporation, who loaned the Tracer III-SD handheld XRF to us free of charge. “Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.”