Chemofossil

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Chemofossils are chemical traces of living things in sedimentary rocks.

Chemofossils provide the oldest evidence of life on earth.

It is assumed that certain chemical molecules , such as hydrocarbons or lipid residues , can only come from living beings. If such molecules are found in a rock, this is an indication that life was ruling at the time the stone was formed, even if the living being itself can no longer be found. Chemofossils are therefore also called biomarkers , although this term is more often used in the context of the reconstruction of the phylogenetic relationships of organisms.

Typical chemofossils are porphyrins (e.g. coproporphyins in petrified feces), phytols , certain amino acids ( glycine , alanine , glutamic acid , aspartic acid ), chlorophyll , etc.

In the Geiseltal , for example , the chemical plant residue chlorophyllinite was found in the coal leaves from the Eocene . The particular quantitative distribution of chemofossils in petroleum , which is individual for each source, is used if the perpetrator of environmental pollution by petroleum has to be identified among several possible perpetrators.