New study: This is one of the oldest signs of life on Earth

This question has long preoccupied researchers around the world – how far can we actually trace early life on Earth?

An international research team now believes they may have found part of the answer in a rock formation in Western Australia.

Their analyzes indicate that the rocks contain traces of microbiological fossils, known as stromatolites, that show signs of life.

life which, the researchers assess, can be traced back a full 3.48 billion years.

This is according to a study of the Dresser Formation in Australia’s Pilbara region, which was published in Geology Journal.

Many structures suggest life

Stromatolites were originally discovered in the year 2000, and since then the big question has been whether they were created as a result of living organisms – or whether they were actually created in a geological process.

It was not easy to identify these billions of years later, but several factors led researchers to conclude that there are ancient signs of life in the rock layers.

Among other things, they note uneven layers, including small dome shapes that are signs of photosynthesis. Scientists know that photosynthesis is the basis for most of the oxygen in the atmosphere, and it’s almost something life depends on.

“We were able to find specific microstructures in certain layers of rock that are highly suggestive of biological processes,” explains Keyron Hickman-Lewis, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who led the investigation.

Thus, the Australian rock formations are included in an exclusive small group of rocks that reveal signs of early life on the Earth as we know it.

Stromatolites found in Greenland rocks are estimated to be around 3.7 billion years old, while scientists claim to have even found early signs of life in Canada.

The The oldest recognized evidence of life has been found elsewhere In Western Australia in the Strelli Pond Formation, where the stromatolites are estimated to be 3.43 billion years old.