Modelling suggests that the UV radiation environment of the early Earth, with DNA weighted irradiances of about three orders of magnitude greater than those at present, was hostile to life forms at the surface, unless they lived in specific protected habitats. However, we present empirical evidence that challenges this commonly held view. We describe a well-developed microbial mat that formed o...

It has long been known that chloride-dominated saline ground waters occur at depth in the UK, not only beneath the sea but also onshore at depths of a few hundred metres. In a few places in northern England, these saline waters discharge naturally at surface in the form of springs. In recent years, however, these saline ground waters have come to be regarded as resources: as potential geotherma...

The esterases and lipases from the α/β hydrolase superfamily exhibit an enormous sequence diversity, fold plasticity, and activities. Here, we present the comprehensive sequence and biochemical analyses of seven distinct esterases and lipases from the metagenome of Lake Arreo, an evaporite karstic lake in Spain (42°46'N, 2°59'W; altitude, 655 m). Together with oligonucleotide usage patterns and...

Hydraulic fracturing of deep shale beds to develop natural gas has caused concern regarding the potential for various forms of water pollution. Two potential pathways-advective transport through bulk media and preferential flow through fractures-could allow the transport of contaminants from the fractured shale to aquifers. There is substantial geologic evidence that natural vertical flow drive...

Sparry magnesite deposits (SMD) of the Lower Riphean (LR) and Middle Riphean (MR) sequences in the western slope of the South Urals have some distinguished peculiarities, which allows to compare them and speculate about the mechanism of ore formation and Mg-source origin. LR magnesites are located in some stratigraphic levels and lie within widespread dolostone horizons. MR magnesites that occu...

The sources and mechanisms of soluble salt uptake by porous limestone and the associated degradation patterns were investigated for the life-sized 15th century "entombment of Christ" sculpture group located in Pont-à-Mousson, France, using a multi-isotope approach on sulphates (δ(34)S and δ(18)O) and nitrates (δ(15)N and δ(18)O). The sculpture group, near the border of the Moselle River, is wit...

The Confidence Hills, Southern Death Valley, California, are composed of Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine beds, evaporite beds, ashes, playa sediments, alluvial fan and fluvial deposits. The sediments have been divided into 5 mappable units. From oldest to, youngest, they are: the Confidence Hills "formation" (informal) composed of three interfingering members, and overlying Units A and B which do n...

Just as in deep-water sedimentary environments, productive source rocks can be developed an evaporitic platform, where claystones are interbedded with evaporites and carbonates. However, the impact of paleoenvironment on organic matter enrichment shallow water evaporite series has not been well explored. In this study, two wells central uplift Tarim Basin were systematically sampled analyzed fo...

Uplift of the Tibetan Plateau since the Late Miocene has greatly affected the nature of sediments deposited in the Qaidam Basin. However, due to the scarcity of continuously dated sediment records, we know little about how minerals responded to this uplift. In order to understand this response, we here present results from the high-resolution mineral profile from a borehole (7.3-1.6 Ma) in the ...