Articles | Volume 21, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1773-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1773-2024
Peer-reviewed comment
 | 
09 Apr 2024
Peer-reviewed comment |  | 09 Apr 2024

Comment on “The Volyn biota (Ukraine) – indications of 1.5 Gyr old eukaryotes in 3D preservation, a spotlight on the `boring billion' ” by Franz et al. (2023)

Martin J. Head, James B. Riding, Jennifer M. K. O'Keefe, Julius Jeiter, and Julia Gravendyck

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Cited articles

Alleon, J., Bernard, S., Le Guillou, C., Beyssac, O., Sugitani, K., and Robert, F.: Chemical nature of the 3.4 Ga Strelley Pool microfossils, Geochem. Persp. Lett., 7, 37–42, 2018. 
Anderson, R. P., Woltz, C. R., Tosca, N. J., Porter, S. M., and Briggs, D. E. G.: Fossilisation processes and our reading of animal antiquity, Trend. Ecol. Evol., 38, 1060–1071, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2023.05.014, 2023. 
Arabameri, M., Khodayari, H., and Zarre, S.: Trichome micromorphology in Alcea L. and allied genera (Malvaceae) and its systematic implication, Nord. J. Bot., 38, 1–16, https://doi.org/10.1111/njb.02540, 2020. 
Barlow, E. V., House, C. H., Liu, M.-C., Wetherington, M. T., and Van Kranendonk, M. J.: Distinctive microfossil supports early Paleoproterozoic rise in complex cellular organisation, Geobiology, 1–23, https://doi.org/10.1111/gbi.12576, 2023. 
Bengtson, S., Rasmussen, B., Ivarsson, M., Muhling, J., Broman, C., Marone, F., Stampanomi, M., and Bekker, A.: Fungus-like mycelial fossils in 2.4 billion-year-old vesicular basalt, Nat. Ecol. Evol., 1, 1–6, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0141, 2017. 
Short summary
A diverse suite of “fossils” associated with the ~1.5 Ga Volyn (Ukraine) kerite was published recently. We show that at least some of them represent modern contamination including plant hairs, pollen, and likely later fungal growth. Comparable diversity is shown to exist in moderm museum dust, calling into question whether any part of the Volyn biota is of biological origin while emphasising the need for scrupulous care in collecting, analysing, and identifying Precambrian microfossils.
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