Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth’s Oldest

Ancient rocks have yielded tiny fossil-like formations up to 4.2 billion years old, researchers reported. But some experts are skeptical.

Earth was a billion years old by then, and scientists have long wondered if even older fossils might be found.

In the new study, published in the journal Nature, Mattew S.Dodd, Dominic Papineau and their colleagues at University College London studied rocks that were either slightly older or much older than those containing the Greenland fossils.

Photo The tubes and other structures in the rock that Mr. Dodd found are also reminiscent of bacteria that live today around hydrothermal vents.

Similar filaments contain iron compounds in the Nuvvuagittuq rocks, Mr. Dodd and his colleagues found, and they are attached to round clumps that resemble the tiny anchors bacteria use to hold on to rock surfaces.

If these really are fossils 3.77 billion years old, then they show that life was already diversifying by that time, thriving in both the shallow ocean in what is now Greenland and the deep ocean in today’s Canada.

If these are fossils 4.2 billion years old, then scientists will have evidence that life began quickly on Earth, not long after the oceans formed.

In response, Dr. Papineau observed that the type of rock studied, known as chert, is very hard and might have protected fossils from high temperatures.

Source: Scientists Say Canadian Bacteria Fossils May Be Earth’s Oldest

Originally published at Cogly.