[meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria

[drtanuki]

Marc and List,
  Good analysis Marc.  I am waiting until Firestone et al get a hold on this and make it a real muck luck (a newer version of the Mucks, Rascal Bays and the YD)!  
Have a great day.  Dirk...Tokyo


--- On Sun, 3/6/11, Marc Fries <fries at psi.edu> wrote:

> From: Marc Fries <fries at psi.edu>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] CI1 meteorites and cyanobacteria
> To: "Meteorite-list List" <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Date: Sunday, March 6, 2011, 8:19 AM
> 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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