Nuclear magnetic biosignatures in the carbonaceous matter of ancient cherts: comparison with carbonaceous meteorites

The search for organic biosignatures is motivated by the hope of understanding the conditions of emergence of life on Earth and the perspective of finding traces of extinct life in martian sediments. Paramagnetic radicals, which exist naturally in amorphous carbonaceous matter fossilized in Precambrian cherts, were used as local structural probes and studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The nuclear magnetic resonance transitions of elements inside and around these radicals were detected by monitoring the nuclear modulations of electron spin echo in pulsed EPR. We found that the carbonaceous matter of fossilized microorganisms with age up to 3.5 billion years gives specific nuclear magnetic signatures of hydrogen (¹H), carbon (¹³C), and phosphorus (³¹P) nuclei. We observed that these potential biosignatures of extinct life are found neither in the carbonaceous matter of carbonaceous meteorites (4.56 billion years), the most ancient objects of the Solar System, nor in any carbonaceous matter resulting from carbonization of organic and bioorganic precursors. These results indicate that these nuclear signatures are sensitive to thermal episodes and can be used for Archean cherts with metamorphism not higher than the greenschist facies.