Harald Furnes – författare

Microbial activities influence water-rock interaction processes and chemical transport between the major geochemical reservoirs and the formation/transformation of minerals and rocks, whereas geological processes and geochemical controls influence the microbial ecology in extreme environments. How biological activity influences geological processes and what role these processes played in the geological evolution of the Earth are fundamental questions. How do we recognize the ancient microbial activities in the rock record and what analytical methods do we use to document them to better understand the evolution of life? Can we detect the existence of microbial life in deep time by studying Archaean rocks? Microbial systems in extreme environments and in the deep biosphere may be analogous to potential life on other planetary bodies and hence may be used to investigate the possibilities of extraterrestrial life.

This book explores these questions in an interdisciplinary approach, and examines the mode and nature of links between geological processes and microbial activities and their significance for the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and possibly on other planets.

This book presents an integrated approach to the study of the evolution of the Archean lithosphere, biosphere and atmosphere, and as such it is a unique contribution to our understanding of the early Earth and life. The structural and geochemical make-up of both the oceanic and continental crust of the Archean Earth is documented in some case studies of various cratons, and the implications of the Phanerozoic plate and plume tectonic processes for the Archean geology are discussed in several chapters in the book. All chapters are process-oriented and data-rich, and reflect the most recent knowledge and information on the Archean Earth. The interdisciplinary approach of examining the evolution of the Archean crust, oceans, and life that we adopt in this book sets it apart from previous publications on Precambrian geology.

The book will be attractive to researchers in academia and in industry, and to senior undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty in earth and natural sciences.