title: Morphology: an ambiguous indicator of biogenicity.
abstract: This paper deals with the difficulty of decoding the origins of natural structures through the study of their morphological features. We focus on the case of primitive life detection, where it is clear that the principles of comparative anatomy cannot be applied. A range of inorganic processes are described that result in morphologies emulating biological shapes, with particular emphasis on geochemically plausible processes. In particular, the formation of inorganic biomorphs in alkaline silica-rich environments are described in detail.
authors.affiliation: Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: García Ruiz
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carnerup
authors.forename: Andrew G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Christy
authors.forename: Nicholas J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Welham
authors.forename: Stephen T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Hyde