Abiogenesis
![Precambrian stromatolites in the Siyeh Formation, Glacier National Park. In 2002, a paper in the scientific journal Nature suggested that these 3.5 Ga (billion years) old geological formations contain fossilized cyanobacteria microbes. This suggests they are evidence of one of the earliest known life forms on Earth.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Stromatolites5833.jpg")
![Charles Darwin in 1879](/Images/godic/202502/04/Darwin_restored25833.jpg")
![Alexander Oparin (right) at the laboratory](/Images/godic/202502/04/Aleksandr_Oparin_and_Andrei_Kursanov_in_enzymology_laboratory_19385833.jpg")
![A cladogram demonstrating extreme hyperthermophiles at the base of the phylogenetic tree of life.](/Images/godic/202502/04/Phylogenic_Tree-en.svg5833.png")
Abiogenesis (Brit.: /ˌeɪˌbaɪoʊˈdʒɛnᵻsᵻs, -ˌbaɪə-, -ˌbiːoʊ-, -ˌbiːə-/ AY-by-oh-JEN-ə-siss or AY-bee-oh-JEN-ə-siss) or biopoiesis or OoL (Origins of Life), is the natural process of life arising from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. It is thought to have occurred on Earth between 3.8 and 4.1 billion years ago, and is studied through a combination of laboratory experiments and extrapolation from the genetic information of modern organisms in order to make reasonable conjectures about what pre-life chemical reactions may have given rise to a living system.