Further evidence of microfossils in carbonaceous meteorites

摘要

Scanning electron microscopy investigations carried out independently in the US and Russia have yielded further evidence of microfossils in meteorites. Numerous complex biomorphic microstructures representing possible microfossils have been found in interior surfaces of freshly broken samples of the Murchison, Orgueil, and Efremovka carbonaceous chondrites. Similar biomorphic forms were not encountered during comparable investigations of the Nikolskoye meteorite. Energy dispersive spectroscopy and link microprobe analysis provides elemental distribution indicating many of the microstructures have a carbon enhancement that is superimposed upon composition of the meteoritic matrix. The in-situ mineralized biomorphic microstructures found embedded in freshly fractured meteoritic surfaces are not considered to be recent surface contaminants. !102