When Geology meets Biology
Geobiology is the study of the interactions and interrelationships between the physical Earth and biology, especially the ‘unseen’ microbial majority. As a multidisciplinary and highly integrated discipline Geobiology is relatively young, but the types of questions it addresses have been puzzling scientists for generations - How did life arise and diversify on early Earth? How has biology affected global physical and chemical processes throughout Earth’s history and today? What are the major triggers that drive evolution and diversification of life? These questions are some of the most fundamentally important scientific questions that we can hope to answer.
lipids - molecular fossils
Lipid biomolecules and their relict geomolecules, or molecular fossils, in rocks, sediment and soil. These molecules (often called biomarkers) provide a window into the complex molecular world of organic matter. Organic matter is essentially the currency of life and amazingly certain organic molecules can be preserved over tens to hundreds of millions of years. In addition to fueling our global industrial economy, these molecular fossils provide important insight into past life and environments. For more information on molecular fossils, check out
