Sex born from hard rock and heavy metal

New Scientist ^ | 19 June 2012 | Will Ferguson

[Olog-hai]

The origin of sexual reproduction was one of the most important events in the history of life—and it would not have been possible without granite. The igneous rock began forming in vast quantities around 2 billion years ago, bringing to the surface the metals that fuel complex life.

Life relies on a number of heavy metals to form proteins. Zinc, molybdenum and copper are particularly important for the eukaryotes—a group that includes animals, plants and fungi, all of which may reproduce sexually.

These complex organisms probably did not become widespread until the oceans became rich in the metals about 800 million years ago, but last year fossil evidence emerged showing that eukaryotes were living in freshwater lakes on land at least 1 billion years ago. So where did they get their heavy metal fix?

John Parnell at the University of Aberdeen, UK, and colleagues studied the rock record and say that an important event was the formation of an ancient supercontinent called Nuna, or Columbia, about 1.9 billion years ago, during the Palaeoproterozoic. …

When Nuna formed, large bodies of magma were injected into the continental crust where they cooled to form granite. This igneous rock is rich in metals including zinc, molybdenum and copper. Over time, natural erosion brought the granite to the surface where it, too, eroded, releasing the metals into the soil and water. Sedimentary records show that they were present in near-surface reservoirs and shallow bodies of water by 1 to 1.5 billion years ago, says Parnell.

"These metals were used by early cells to develop enzymes that enabled them to carry out a greater diversity of functions and begin to sexually reproduce," says Parnell. "They gave early life the added dimension of natural selection and variability." …

[onedoug]

Thanks for the ping, w.

t, very interesting, and likely closer to the mark.

I think it’s important to emphasize granite cooling and crystalizations as “plutonic” structures at depth rather than volcanic material extruded onto the surface which was more my initial impression from the article.

My God (really!), geo-biology is such an amazing field.

Going back a bit to abiogenesis, you might find Robert Hazen’s “Genesis: The Scientific Quest For Life’s Origin” an interesting read. I sure did.

Best....