Abstract The Precambrian rock record contains numerous examples of microscopic organic filaments and spheres, commonly interpreted as fossil microorganisms. Microfossils are among the oldest traces life on Earth, making their correct identification crucial to our understanding early evolution. Yet, spherical filamentous objects composed carbon sulfur can form in abiogenic reaction sulfide with ...

Silicification of organisms in silica-depositing environments can impact both their ecology and their presence in the fossil record. Although microbes have been silicified under laboratory and environmental conditions, viruses have not. Bacteriophage T4 was successfully silicified under laboratory conditions that closely simulated those found in silica-depositing hot springs. Virus morphology w...