Chapter 26

Early Earth and the

Origin of Life
 Formation of the Earth
• geological events shape biological evolution,
& organisms change the planet in turn
• episodes initiate new ways of life
ex: evolution of photosynthetic organisms
totally changed Earth’s atmosphere
• between 4.6 – 5 bya our solar system formed
from a cloud of matter
• Earth formed ~ 4.6 bya due to ice & dust
gravitationally pulling together
Figure 26.0x Volcanic activity and lightning associated with the birth of the island of Surtsey near Iceland; terrestrial life began colonizing Surtsey soon after its birth
• began as a cold world which melted due to heat,
radioactive decay, & impact of meteorites
• hot, molten mass separated into layers of
varying density
• Life began when atm. had little O2 & the mixture
of gases comprised a reducing atm.
• prokaryotes only for 1st few billion years after
Earth’s crust cooled & solidified
• stromatolites – banded domes of sediment
similar to bacterial mats in Fig Tree chert (rock
formation in Africa) – oldest available fossils
~ 3.5 bya
Figure 26.3 Early (left) and modern (right) prokaryotes
Figure 26.3x1 Spheroidal Gunflint Microfossils
Figure 26.4 Bacterial mats and stromatolites
 Origin of life
• One hypothesis (most scientists agree) –
nonliving materials became ordered into
molecular aggregates eventually capable
of self-replication & metabolism
 1st organisms were products of chemical
evolution in 4 stages
1) abiotic synthesis & accumulation of small
organic molecules (monomers) such as AA’s
& nucleotides
2) joining of these into polymers, including
proteins & nucleic acids
3) aggregation of abiotically produced molecules
into droplets, protobionts that had chemical
characteristics different from their surroundings
4) origin of heredity (maybe before the droplet
stage)
• 1920’s Oparin/Haldane – independently
hypothesized Earth’s early atm. provided
conditions not possible today

• 1953 Miller/Urey – tested Oparin’s

hypothesis in lab & produced diverse
organic molecules from inorganic
precursors
Figure 26.10 The Miller-Urey experiment