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Paleometry as a key tool to deal with paleobiological and astrobiological issues: some contributions and reflections on the Brazilian fossil record

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2019

Amanda L. S. Gomes ,
Bruno Becker-Kerber ,
Gabriel L. Osés ,
Gustavo Prado ,
Pedro Becker Kerber ,
Gabriel E. B. de Barros ,
Douglas Galante Open the ORCID record for Douglas Galante [Opens in a new window] ,
Elidiane Rangel ,
Pidassa Bidola  and
Julia Herzen
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Amanda L. S. Gomes
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Biotecnologia e Monitoramento Ambiental, Universidade Federalde São Carlos campus Sorocaba, Rod. João Leme dos Santos km 110, CEP 18052-780, Sorocaba, Brazil
Bruno Becker-Kerber
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Washington Luiz 325 km, CEP 13565-905, São Carlos, Brazil
Gabriel L. Osés
Affiliation:
Programa de Pós-graduação em Ecologia e Recursos Naturais, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Washington Luiz 325 km, CEP 13565-905, São Carlos, Brazil
Gustavo Prado
Affiliation:
Instituto de Geociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Lago 562, CEP 05508-080, São Paulo, Brazil
Pedro Becker Kerber
Affiliation:
Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul, Cidade Universitária, Av. Costa e Silva – Pioneiros, CEP 79070-900, Campo Grande, Brazil
Gabriel E. B. de Barros
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos – campus Sorocaba, Rod. João Leme dos Santos km 110, CEP 18052-780, Sorocaba, Brazil
Douglas Galante
Affiliation:
Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory, Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials, Av. Giuseppe Maximo Scolfaro, 10000, CEP 13083-100, Campinas, Brazil
Elidiane Rangel
Affiliation:
Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Unidade Diferenciada Sorocaba, Av. 3 de março, 511, Alto da Boa Vista, 18087180, Sorocaba, Brazil
Pidassa Bidola
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Institute for Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
Julia Herzen
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Institute for Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
Franz Pfeiffer
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Institute for Medical Engineering, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany
Márcia A. Rizzutto
Affiliation:
Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, Rua do Matão, Travessa R 187, CEP 05508-090, São Paulo, Brazil
Mírian L. A. F. Pacheco*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biologia, Universidade Federal de São Carlos – campus Sorocaba, Rod. João Leme dos Santos km 110, CEP 18052-780, Sorocaba, Brazil
*
Author for correspondence: Mírian L. A. F. Pacheco, E-mail: forancelli.ufscar@gmail.com
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Abstract

Investigations into the existence of life in other parts of the cosmos find strong parallels with studies of the origin and evolution of life on our own planet. In this way, astrobiology and paleobiology are married by their common interest in disentangling the interconnections between life and the surrounding environment. In this way, a cross-point of both sciences is paleometry, which involves a myriad of imaging and geochemical techniques, usually non-destructive, applied to the investigation of the fossil record. In the last decades, paleometry has benefited from an unprecedented technological improvement, thus solving old questions and raising new ones. This advance has been paralleled by conceptual approaches and discoveries fuelled by technological evolution in astrobiological research. In this context, we present some new data and review recent advances on the employment of paleometry to investigations on paleobiology and astrobiology in Brazil in areas such biosignatures in Ediacaran microbial mats, biogenicity tests on enigmatic Ediacaran structures, research on Ediacaran metazoan biomineralization, fossil preservation in Cretaceous insects and fish, and finally the experimental study on the decay of fish to test the effect of distinct types of sediment on soft-tissue preservation, as well as the effects of early diagenesis on fish bone preservation.

Keywords

BiogenicitybiomineralizationbiosignaturesEdiacaranfossilization processmicrobial mats
Type
Review Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 18 , Issue 6 , December 2019 , pp. 575 - 589
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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