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Early Earth Focus Group
Chairs: Lee Kump and Stephen Mojzsis
The search for life beyond Earth requires understanding the conditions under which life originates and evolves, the factors influencing the emergence of complex life, and the ability to interpret the “fingerprints” left by primitive biospheres on the geologic record or in the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Such understanding must be informed by examination of the history of the only planet on which life is known to exist-the Earth. Hence, study of life and the environment on the early Earth is a critical aspect of astrobiology research.
The aim of the Early Earth Focus Group (EEFG) is to facilitate collaborative activities centered on this topic that bring together researchers from multiple NAI teams as well as researchers from outside the NAI (including researchers based outside the U.S.). To this end, the group currently includes approximately 120 researchers. These individuals all actively requested membership in the group.
The primary activity of the group has been to develop the case for organized stratigraphic drilling of ancient sedimentary intervals of unique astrobiological interest—a “mission to early Earth.” To this end, the group has sponsored a series of meetings and field expeditions, and ultimately proposed a “Deep Time Drilling Project” to begin with a set of three pilot drill cores in the Archean stratigraphy of Western Australia . These activities helped spur the creation of the NAI’s Astrobiology Drilling Program (ADP) in Fall 2003.
