Scientists have uncovered the oldest fossils on Earth, dated back to the life 3.7 billion years ago, at a freshly melted part of Greenland, – the fossils belong to a community of microbes that lived on an ancient seafloor- the dating was done using the layers of ash from volcanoes and tiny zircon with uranium using a standard dating method.
This discovery does show signs that the life may have formed quicker about half a billion years after Earth formed- strengthening hope that there can be life forming on planets with probable resources of life, such as Mars, according to the study co-author Martin VanKranendonk of the University of New South Wales and director of the Australian Center for Astrobiology.
“It gives us an idea how our planet evolved and how life gained a foothold,” VanKranendonk said.
It was earlier thought that it takes at least half a billion years for life to form after the molten Earth started to cool, but the newly found fossils are complex to have been developed shortly after the planet’s first life forms.
The rocks that were covered with ice, melted after an unusually warm spring; it was then that the team found stromatolites, about 0.4 to 1.6 inches high- “like the house left behind made by the microbes,” VanKranendonk said.
By: Archa Dave
