Self-assembled versus biological pattern formation in geology

2026/01/01 by Julyan H. E. Cartwright, Charles S. Cockell, Julie G. Cosmidis +11 · 3 voices
#nlin.PS #astro-ph.EP #physics.geo-ph #q-bio.PE

paper · pdf

Abstract

Both abiotic self-organization and biological mechanisms have been put forward as the origin of a number of geological patterns. It is important to comprehend the formation mechanisms of such structures both to understand geological self-organization and in order to differentiate them from biological patterns -- fossils and bio-influenced structures -- seen in geological systems. Being able to distinguish the traces of biological activity from geological self-organization is fundamental both for understanding the origin of life on Earth and for the search for life beyond Earth.

Discussions

• Sediments and minerals self-organize and create a range of patterns which can be difficult to distinguish from biologically fabricated structures. This review brings significant advancement in underst [bsky, 28 points, 0 comments]
• Self-assembled versus biological pattern formation in geology arxiv.org/abs/2601.00323 [bsky, 2 points, 0 comments]
• Julyan H. E. Cartwright, et al.: Self-assembled versus biological pattern formation in geology https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00323 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.00323 https://arxiv.org/html/2601.00323 [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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