Geologists have established the oldest evidence of life on Earth – Gazeta.Ru
Geologists have established the oldest evidence of life on Earth – Gazeta.Ru | News
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Rock formations in Western Australia in the Dresser Formation, 3.5 billion years old, are the oldest evidence of life on Earth. The work of an international team of scientists led by the Natural History Museum in London, who reached this conclusion, published in Geology.
These rocks are stromatolites. Usually they consist of layered rocks, which can be formed either as a result of the vital activity of microbial colonies, or as a result of chemical reactions between the rock and the environment. They can help scientists understand when and where life first arose on Earth, but determining the exact origin of stromatolites is difficult.
Scientists believe that in ancient times, West Australian stromatolites were formed by the activity of photosynthetic microbial mats at the bottom of a shallow marine lagoon that was the site of the Dresser Formation.
In their work, the scientists used optical and electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, as well as laboratory and synchrotron computed tomography. None of the methods revealed organic materials, but they showed structures and characteristics consistent with biological origin. For example, dome-shaped structures that were formed during the rise of bacteria to the sun.
Scientists note that the Lake Lake crater on Mars was similar to the Dresser formation in the Noachian period (an early stage in the geological history of Mars). Probably, it was at this time that microbial life could have originated on Mars. To confirm this theory, the researchers say, Martian samples of stromatolites from the crater would need to be studied if the Perseverance rover finds them.
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Paleontologists have discovered two-meter arthropods aged 470 million years – Gazeta.
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Paleontologists have discovered two-meter arthropods aged 470 million years – Gazeta.Ru | News
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Paleontologists have discovered new giant arthropods. Article about it published in Scientific Reports.
The find was made on the territory of Morocco in the Fezuata formation, which was covered by the ocean in ancient times. More research is needed to analyze these fragments, but judging by the previously described specimens, such giant arthropods can reach 2 meters in length.
“Although the giant arthropods we discovered are not yet fully identified, some of them may belong to previously described species of the Moroccan Fezuata Formation, and some are certainly new species,” the scientists explain. Fossils found in these rocks include mineralized elements (such as shells), but some also show exceptional soft tissue preservation, allowing scientists to explore the anatomy of early animal life on Earth.
The inhabitants of the Fezuata Formation lived in shallow waters subjected to continuous storms and waves that buried them after death. Some bivalve-like brachiopods have been found attached to arthropod fragments, indicating that the large shells served as food stores for seafloor dwellers after the death of the carriers. In addition, previously unknown species of trilobites have been discovered.
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