Signatures Of Biologically-Pure Carbon, Embedded In Nearly 3 Billion Year Old Ruby -- Discovered In Greenland: Ore Geology Reviews Vol. 138

Do read this geology / ore journal / paper. . . or. . . more than likely -- you won't. Heh. It is thick with all the usual science jargon. The punchline though, is that the kind of carbon embedded in this ruby likely could only have formed in a biological (microbial) process. While life is thought by many scientists to have existed even over 3 billion years ago, that notion is debated -- mostly for lack of more concrete evidence.

This paper would seem to put the debate largely to rest. This carbon finding, assuming that there are no subsequent problems with the dating of the ruby ore itself, is pretty good evidence of life -- more than 2.5 billion years in the past, in what became Greenland. Here is a popular magazine's take on it all:

. . .The planet's oldest rubies, sparkling red gemstones made up of a transparent red mineral called corundum, are found in Greenland. While searching for rubies in the North Atlantic Craton of southern Greenland, a group of researchers discovered a hidden surprise in one of them: graphite, a pure form of carbon, that may be the remains of ancient microbial life.

"The graphite inside this ruby is really unique," Chris Yakymchuk, a professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement. "It's the first time we've seen evidence of ancient life in ruby-bearing rocks. . . ."

Onward, grinning: "life, life, life. . . isn't it. . . grand?" -- as the boyish miner in me returns to the under-belly of the high Rockies, in memories as thick as milk-weed seeds, on a fall morning. . . .

नमस्ते