[meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria

From: Richard Montgomery <rickmont_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2011 17:21:14 -0800
Message-ID: <C35FFD67E2DD4ADAA0C1C21F3BFE0C93_at_bosoheadPC>

I'll take Dr. Ted's advise while I watch this unfold.....


----- Original Message -----
From: "Marc Fries" <fries at psi.edu>
To: "Meteorite-list List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2011 3:19 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria


> Howdy all
>
> Here's my two cents, pure and simple - this paper is 110% bullshit. The
> filaments the paper addresses are nothing new. They are apparently
> amorphous sulfates formed from aqueous alteration of fine sulfides in the
> CI's. You can see that in the EDS spectra published in the paper - the
> predominant elements are sulfur, oxygen and magnesium. I.e., they are
> sulfates (e.g. Mg2SO4 + hydration water). Some silicon "leaks" into the
> measurement from materials behind one of the filaments.
> I happen to have two CIs on loan to me right now - Orgueil and Tonk. I
> have Raman spectra of the filaments found in both meteorites. They are
> sulfates. My personal Surprise Meter registers a whopping Zero.
> The argument is made that the lack of nitrogen in these "fossils" implies
> that they pre-date their residence on Earth. This argument starts with
> the assumption that the filaments are fossils, and then uses the
> non-detection of nitrogen to "prove" that they are fossils. This is a
> circular argument. Here's a more supportable hypothesis: no nitrogen was
> detected because they are not fossils, but rather exactly what has been
> known for decades - they are amorphous sulfate filaments caused by
> hydration of fine sulfides in the rock.
>
> This paper is a result of something I like to call the Lowell Effect.
> Basically, it is what happens when someone stares into an instrument
> expecting (or hoping) to see proof of life in the target. Percival Lowell
> did it through a telescope with Mars, drawing elaborate "canals" in his
> mind which indicated (to him) an advanced martian civilization. Certain
> other scientists do it with the Apex chert while peering through
> microscopes, and with hydrothermal graphite found in rocks from Isua,
> Greenland through all manner of instruments. The author of this paper
> pulled a Lowell Effect result out of his posterior after looking at CIs
> with an electron microscope. Where I come from, we also call that
> "letting your hopes make a fool of your reason".
>
> Cheers,
> Marc Fries
>
>
> On Mar 5, 2011, at 6:56 AM, drtanuki wrote:
>
>> Dear List,
>> There is a very interesting newly published paper about cyanobacteria
>> found inside CI1 meteorites:
>>
>> Journal of Cosmology, 2011, Vol 13, xxx.
>> JournalofCosmology.com, March, 2011
>> Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites:
>> Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus
>> Richard B. Hoover, Ph.D.
>> NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
>>
>> The abstract can be read here:
>>
>> http://lunarmeteoritehunters.blogspot.com/2011/03/fossils-of-cyanobacteria-in-ci1.html
>>
>> Best Always, Dirk Ross...Tokyo
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Received on Sat 05 Mar 2011 08:21:14 PM PST