Biology 1001A Study Guide - P700, Primase, Radio Astronomy
Document Summary
The age of the earth is 4. 6 billion years. Life started 3. 8bya with prokaryotes which came before oxygen. Atmospheric/diatomic oxygen rose to appreciable levels 2. 7bya; before this time there was no oxygen in the atmosphere so the prokaryotes must have been anaerobic. Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago; homo sapiens are utterly irrelevant to the whole thing. Planet started 4. 6bya and life took about 600 million years to develop which is a surprisingly short amount of time. Early evidence of life are fossilized structures called stromatolites (dated back 3. 5bya) Stromatolite is a mineral deposit that is brought about by the activity of a group of prokaryotes called cyanobacteria/bluegreen algae. Maybe in tidal pools on the warm shores. May have occurred on the ocean floor areas called deep sea vents. Deep sea vents are on the ocean floor where there is high pressure, it"s hot and nutrient rich. Pressure is way too high to have life but there is lots of life!
