3.48 billion-year-old rocks are found in Australia. Scholars claim these rocks are considered to be the oldest known traces of life on Earth. They seem to be the fossilised remains of ancient microbial cities called stromatolites.

Stromatolites have many parts. Thus, when these components are put together, experts can discover their formation processes and origins.

All around the world, billion-year-old stromatolites have been found. They are typically made up of laminated rock. These rocks are layered very thinly.  In addition, their formation could have been caused by non-living chemical reactions between the rock and its surroundings.

A recent study done by scientists from all over the world shows that these structures were made by living organisms, not by nonliving processes.

Finding the first signs of life on Earth can be a difficult task. When you compress a lot of bacteria between layers of rock and let them grow up for billions of years, you get something that is more like rock than it is like an old living thing.

Key facts!

• The stromatolites that were discovered in Australia are considered to be the oldest known traces of life on Earth.
• Experts used various techniques and tools to come to this conclusion.
• Even though experts didn’t find any organic materials, they did find things that point to a biological origin.
• The group determined that these stromatolites used to be mats of microbes that grew on the bottom of a lagoon.
• As the sediment settled on the mats, the bacteria pushed up, away from the residue and toward the sun.
• Thus, this made dome-shaped structures that looked like the cups in an egg carton.
• During the fossilisation process, these shapes were the ones that were kept.
• The team also found formations that looked like pillars.
• Furthermore, these formations matched rock patterns that are known to be caused by bacteria growing in large numbers.
• Researchers think that these structures, which look a lot like dome-shaped formations, were made by animals moving toward the sun.
• When put together, these hints are strong evidence that these old rock layers were made by living things, which would make them the oldest proof of life on Earth.
• This finding changes the way we look for life in other parts of the universe.

Youtube user “Jamie Foster” shares with us the idea of Stromatolites.

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