BL3002 GL3007 L1&2

What is the oldest putative evidence of life on Earth?

• 42.8 million years ago

• 428 million years ago

• 4.28 billion years ago

• 4.5 billion years ago

What are these?

• stromatolites

• banded iron formations

• hydrothermal chert

• none of the above

The RNA World hypothesis for the origin of life is supported by experiments that show....

• RNA's building blocks can form without enzymes (proteins)

• RNA spontaneously forms due to UV exposure

• RNA came to Earth on meteorites

• all of the above

These structures from the Apex Chert may represent the earliest...

• Animal fossils

• Eukaryote cells

• Cyanobacteria

• Methanogens

How did experiments using this plant support the Panspermia theory of life's origins?

• The seeds survived months of burial underground

• The seeds survived months in a black smoker

• The seeds survived months in an anoxic chamber

• The seeds survived months on the outside of the International Space Station

These structures from Strelley Pool are interpreted as stromatolites because of....

• Their layered structure

• The steep slopes of the laminae

• Their varying sulfur isotope values

• All of the above

What role could clay minerals play in the origins of life?

• They can concentrate and organise organic molecules

• They can provide important metals

• They contain organic molecules

• They trigger RNA formation

These rocks contain evidence that there was no free oxygen in the atmosphere 2.5 Ga. What is the diagnostic mineral?

• clay minerals

• iron oxide

• uranite

• kryptonite

The earliest life on Earth might have been driven extinct by...?

• Solar wander

• A gamma ray burst

• The faint young sun paradox

• The Late Heavy Bombardment

Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, shows evidence of....

• liquid water

• simple microbial life

• nucleotides

• none of the above