EPSc 480 - Spring Semester 2005 Reading List


1.  What is Astrobiology?

1.       Soffen, G.A.  1999.  Life in the Solar System, in The New Solar System, ed. by J. K. Beatty, C.C. Petersen, A. Chaikin, pp.365-376.

2.  Formation of the Earth and Moon

2.       Wood, J.A.  1999.  Origin of the Solar System, in The New Solar System, ed. by J. K. Beatty, C.C. Petersen, A. Chaikin, pp. 13-22.

3.       Fitzgerald, R.  2002.  Isotope ratio measurements firm up knowledge of Earth's formation.  Physics Today 56(1):16-18.

3.  Impact History of the Earth; Frustration of Life and Delivery of Volatiles

4.       Sleep, N.H., Zahnle, K.J., Kasting, J.F., and Morowitz, H.J.  1989.  Annihilation of ecosystems by large asteroid impacts on the early Earth.  Nature 342:139-142.

5.       Chyba, C.F.  1990.  Impact delivery and erosion of planetary oceans in the early inner solar system.  Nature 343:129-133.

6.       Shoemaker, E.M. and Shoemaker, C.S.  1999.  The role of collisions, in The New Solar System, ed. by J. K. Beatty, C.C. Petersen, A. Chaikin, pp. 69-86.

4.  Early Earth Environments

7.       Beukes, N.J. and Klein, C.  1992.  Models for iron-formation deposition, in Proterozoic Biosphere, ed. J.W. Schopf and C. Klein, pp.147-151.

8.       Pace, N.R.  1991.  Origin of life – facing up to the physical setting.  Cell 65:531-533.

5.  Raging Debate #1: Oxygen and the Early Earth?

9.       Lowe, D.R.  1992.  Other geological indicators, in The Proterozoic Biosphere, ed. by J.W. Schopf and C. Klein, pp. 157-158.

10.   Kasting, J.F., H.D. Holland, and Kump, L.R.  1992.  Atmospheric Evolution: the Rise of Oxygen, in The Proterozoic Biosphere, ed. by J.W. Schopf and C. Klein, pp.159-163.

11.   Ohmoto, H.  1996.  Evidence in pre-2.2 Ga paleosols for the early evolution of atmospheric oxygen and terrestrial biota.  Geology 24(12):1135-1138.

12.   Holland, H.D. and Rye, R.  1997. Evidence in pre-2.2 Ga paleosols for the early evolution of atmospheric oxygen and terrestrial biota, comment and reply.  Geology 25(9):857-859.

6.  What is Life?

13.   Nealson, K.H.  1997.  The limits of life on Earth and searching for life on Mars.  J. Geophys. Res. 102:23,675-23,686.

14.   Fleischaker, G.R.  1990.  Origins of Life: An operational definition.  Origins of Life & Evol. Biosphere 20:127-137.

15.   Chapter 3, Macromolecules, in Brock's Biology of Microorganisms, 10th edition, ed. by Madigan, M.T., Martinko, J.M., and Parker, J., pp.40-53 (optional reading).

7.  Molecular Phylogeny of Life and its Implications for Astrobiology

16.   Woese, C.R.  2000.  Interpreting the universal phylogenetic tree.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97(15):8392-8396.

17.   Stetter, K.O.  1996.  Hyperthermophiles in the history of life, in Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), Ciba Foundation Symposium v. 202, pp. 1-10.

18.   Doolittle, W.F.  2000.  Uprooting the tree of life.  Sci. Amer. 282:90-95.

8.  Raging Debate #2: The RNA World, is it Dead or Alive?

19.   Joyce, G.F.  1991.  The rise and fall of the RNA world.  New Biologist 3:399-407.

20.   Gilbert, W.  1986.  The RNA world.  Nature 319:618.

9.  Life in Extreme Environments

21.   Stevens, T.O., and McKinley, J.P.  1995.  Lithoautotrophic microbial ecosystems in deep basalt aquifers.  Science 270:450-454.

22.   Madigan, M.T., and Marrs, B.L.  1997.  Extremophiles.  Sci. Amer. 276:82-87.

10.  Raging Debate #3:  Life at 250˚C; What is the Upper Temperature Limit for Life?

23.   Baross,J.A. and Deming,J.W.  1983.  Growth of 'black smoker' bacteria at temperatures of at least 250˚C.  Nature 303(5916):423-426.

24.   Trent, J.D., Chastain, R.A. and Yayanos, A.A.  1984.  Possible artefactual basis for apparent bacterial growth at 250˚C.  Nature 307:737-740.

25.   Baross, J.A. and Deming, J.W.  1984.  Reply to Trent et al.  Nature 301:740.

11.  The Early History of Life on Earth, Isotopes and Biosignatures

26.   Shen, Y., Buick, R. and Canfield, D.E.  2001.  Isotopic evidence for microbial sulphate reduction in the early Archaean era.  Nature 410:77-81.

27.   Schidlowski, M.  1988.  A 3,800-million-year isotopic record of life from carbon in sedimentary rocks.  Nature 333:313-318.

28.   Brocks, J.J., Logan, G.A., Buick, R., and Summons, R.E.  1999.  Archean molecular fossils and the early rise of eukaryotes.  Science 285:1033-1036.

12.  The Early History of Life on Earth, Microfossils and Stromatolites

29.   Walter, M.R., Grotzinger, J.P., and Schopf, J.W.  1992.  Proterozoic Stromatolites, in The Proterozoic Biosphere, ed. J.W. Schopf and C. Klein, pp.253-260.

30.   Barghoorn, E.S. and Tyler, S.A.  1965.  Microorganisms from the Gunflint Chert.  Science 147:563-577.

31.   Schopf, J.W. and Packer, B.M.  1987.  Early Archean (3.3-Billion-Year-Old) Microfossils from Warrawoona Group, Australia.  Science 237:70-73.

13.  Raging Debate #4: The Apex Chert "microfossils"?

32.   Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev A.B., Agresti, D.G., Widowiak, T.J., and Czaja, A.D.  2002.  Laser-Raman imagery of Earth's earliest fossils.  Science 416:73-76.

33.   Brasier, M.D., Green, O.R., Jephcoat, A.P., Kleppe, A.K., Van Kranendonk, M.J., Lindsay, J.F., Steele, A., and Grassineau, N.V.  2002.  Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils.  Science 416:76-81.

34.   Pasteris, J.D., and Wopenka, B.  2002.  Images of the Earth's earliest fossils?  Nature 420:476-477.

35.   Schopf, J.W., Kudryavtsev, A.B., Agresti, D.G., Widowiak, T.J., Czaja, A.D.  2002.  reply to Pasteris and Wopenka.  Nature 420:477.

36.   Dalton, R.  2002.  Squaring up over ancient life.  Nature 417:782-784.

14.  The Miller-Urey Experiment and Abiotic Synthesis

37.   Miller, S.L.  1953.  A Production of Amino Acids under possible primitive earth conditions.  Science 117:528-529.

38.   Navarro-Gonzalez, R., McKay, C.P., and Mvondo, D.N.  2001.  A possible nitrogen crisis for Archaean life due to reduced nitrogen fixation by lightning.  Nature 412:61-63.

39.   Briggs, M.H.  1961.  Organic constituents of meteorites.  Nature 191(4794):1137-1140.

15.  Hydrothermal Systems and Abiotic Synthesis

40.   Shock, E.L.  1996.  Hydrothermal systems as environments for the emergence of life, in Evolution of Hydrothermal Ecosystems on Earth (and Mars?), Ciba Foundation Symposium v. 202, pp. 40-51.

41.   Cody, G.D., Boctor, N.Z., Filley, T.R., Hazen, R.M., Scott, J.H., Sharma, A., and Yoder Jr., H.S.  2000.  Primordial carbonylated iron-sulfur compounds and the synthesis of pyruvate.  Science 289:1337-1340.

42.   Baross, J.A. and Hoffman, S.E.  1985.  Submarine hydrothermal vents and associated gradient environments as sites for the origin and evolution of life.  Orig. Life 15:327-345.

16.  Origin of Life Theories

43.   Cairns-Smith, A.G.  1985.  The first organisms.  Sci. Amer. 252(6):90-100.

44.   Wachtershauser, G.  1990.  The case for the chemoautotrophic origin of life in an iron-sulfur world.  Origins Life & Evol. Biosphere 20:173-176.

45.   Miller, S.L. and Lazcano, A.  1995.  The origin of life – did it occur at high temperatures?  J. Mol. Evol. 41:689-92.

46.   Orgel, L.E.  1998.  The origin of life – a review of facts and speculations.  Trends Biochem. Sci. 23:491-495.

17.  Impacts and Major Extinction Events

47.   Alvarez, L.W., Alvarez, W., Asaro, F. and Michel, H.V.  1980.  Extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction.  Science 208:1095-1108.

48.   Renne, P.R., Zichao, Z., Richards, M.A., Black, M.T., and Basu, A.R.  1995.  Synchrony and causal relations between Permian-Triassic boundary crises and Siberian flood volcanism.  Science 269:1413-1416.

18.  Raging Debate #5: The Faint Young Sun, and the Snowball/Slushball Earth

49.   Kasting, J.F., and Grinspoon, D.H.  1991.  The faint young sun problem, in The Sun in Time, ed. by Sonett, C.P., Giampapa, M.S., and Matthews, M.S., pp.447-462.

50.   Pavlov, A.A., Hurtgen, M.T., Kasting, J.F., and Arthur, M.A.  2003.  Methane-rich Proterozoic atmosphere?  Geology 31(1):87-90.

51.   Hoffman, P.F. and Schrag, D.P.  2000.  Snowball Earth.  Sci. Amer. 282:68-75.

52.   Lubick, N.  2002.  Snowball Fights.  Nature 417:12-13.

19.  The Concept of Habitable Zones

53.   Rampino, M.R. and Caldeira, K.  1994.  The Goldilocks Problem: Climatic evolution and long-term habitability of Terrestrial planets.  Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 32:83-114.

20.  The Potential for Life on Mars

54.   Jakosky, B.M. and Shock, E.L.  1998.  The biological potential of Mars, the early Earth, and Europa.  J. Geophys. Res. 103:19,359-19,364.

55.   Malin, M.C. and Edgett, K.S.  2000.  Evidence for recent groundwater seepage and surface runoff on Mars.  Science 288:2330-2335.

56.   Kramer, M.G., Potter, C.S., Des Marais, D., and Peterson, D.  2003.  New insight on Mars: A network of ancient lakes and discontinuous river segments.  EOS Trans.  84(1):1,6.

21.  The Search for Life on Mars; Viking Results and Modern Life Detection Methods

57.   Margulis, L., Mazur, P., Barghoorn, E.S., Halvorson, H.O., Jukes, T.H., and Kaplan, I.R.  1979.  The Viking Mission: Implications for life on Mars.  J. Mol. Evol. 14:223-232.

58.   Conrad, P.G. and Nealson, K.H.  2002.  A non-earthcentric approach to life detection.  Astrobiology 1(1):14-24.

22.  Raging Debate #6: ALH84001; Signs of Life??

59.   McKay, D.S., Gibson Jr., E.K., Thomas-Keprta, K.L., Vali, H., Romanek, C.S., Clemett, S.J., Chillier, X.D.F., Maechling, C.R., and Zare, R.N.  1996.  Search for past life on Mars: Possible relic biogenic activity in Martian Meteorite ALH84001.  Science 273:924-930.

60.   Trieman, A.  1999.  Martian life "Still Kicking" in meteorite ALH84001.  Eos Trans. 80(18):205,208-209.

23.  Life on Europa

61.   Gaidos, E.J., Nealson, K.H., and Kirshvink, J.L.  1999.  Life in ice-covered oceans.  Science 284:1631-1633.

62.   Chyba, C.F. and C.B. Phillips.  2001.  Possible ecosystems and the search for life on Europa.  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 98(3):801-804.

63.   Pappalardo, R.T., Head, J.W. and Greeley, R.  1999.  The hidden ocean of Europa.  Sci. Amer. 281:54-63.

64.   Chyba.  2000.  Energy for microbial life on Europa.  Nature 403:381-382.

24.  Titan and its Relevance to Astrobiology

65.   Sagan, C., Thompson, W.R., and Khare, B.N.  1992.  Titan: a laboratory for prebiological organic chemistry.  Accounts Chem. Res. 25:286-292.

66.   Griffith, C.A., Owen, T., Miller, G.A., and Geballe, T.  Transient clouds in Titan's lower atmosphere.  Nature 395:575-578.

67.   Waldrop, M.M.  1989.  Titan: Continents in a hydrocarbon sea.  Science 245:129-130.

25.  Raging Debate #7: Cross-inoculation of the Planets and Sample Return

68.   Gladman, B.J., Burns, J.A., Duncan, M., Lee, P., Levison, H.F.  1996.  Exchange of impact ejecta between terrestrial worlds.  Science 271:1387-1392.

69.   DeVincenzi, D.L., Race, M.S., Klein, H.P.  1998.  Planetary protection, sample return missions and Mars exploration: History, status, and future needs.  J. Geophys. Res. 103:28,577-28,585.

26.  The Discovery of Extrasolar Planets

70.   Beckwith, S.V.W. and Sargent, A.I.  1996.  Circumstellar disks and the search for neighbouring planetary systems.  Nature 383:139-144.

71.   Burrows, A. and Angel, R.  1999.  Extrasolar planets: Direct detection at last.  Nature 402:732-733.


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