Comments
mr_orlo t1_iws346t wrote
Do they know if there was ever any lagoons next to volcanos on Mars?
martin87i t1_iwsd8ms wrote
So how was the dating 3.48 billion years ago?
FabulousEmotions t1_iwt4dss wrote
The mounds, called stromatolites, are made from cyanobacteria, one of the first and most prolific lifeforms on Earth. They left behind extremely tiny grains from their bodies after death which became sedimentary rock after millions of years. These stromatolites survive today and can be dated w radioactive dating. http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/NatSci102/text/extfirstlife.htm
martin87i t1_iwtemst wrote
No I mean, how was the dating back then?
FabulousEmotions t1_iwtf9h6 wrote
It was the best time to be asexual in the history of Earth!
Channel250 t1_iwtf0qp wrote
Girls always busy washing their hair...
FabulousEmotions t1_iwtfk16 wrote
That excuse worked billions of years before hair or Saved by the Bell ever existed
Channel250 t1_iwtgc56 wrote
Zack "Timed-Out" so hard it was burned into our planets geologic history.
FabulousEmotions t1_iwtgzde wrote
It created Dustin Diamonds deep in the mantle. They were not discovered for millions of years. Uh, then they got too old, made a weird porn, got in bar fights, and died.
[deleted] t1_iwshzfj wrote
[removed]
AutoModerator t1_iws1hkr wrote
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, personal anecdotes are allowed as responses to this comment. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will be removed and our normal comment rules apply to all other comments.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
shiny_brine t1_iwsyy7z wrote
So you're saying this life originated in a "shiny brine"?
capybooya t1_iwxkxks wrote
Life showing up rather early in Earth's history just after conditions stabilized would maybe be a hint toward life being quite common in similar conditions elsewhere? Still n=1 but its all we have.
marketrent OP t1_iws2g29 wrote
James Ashworth, 11 November 2022.
Excerpt:
>Structures found in 3.48-billion-year-old Australian rocks are the oldest evidence of life on Earth.
>Detailed analyses of geological samples from the Dresser Formation conclude that, despite previous scientific controversy, they represent fossils formed by early life and could provide hints of what scientists should look for on Mars.
>
>Around 3.5 billion years ago, the area where Western Australia's Dresser Formation is now found would have featured shallow lagoons fed by water enriched in nutrients due to volcanism and hydrothermal activity.
>These lagoons are believed to have been inhabited by photosynthetic organisms, with the fossilised remains of the structures they formed preserved within the sedimentary rocks of the Dresser Formation.
>
>On Mars, very similar habitats could have existed more than three billion years ago when the planet is considered to have been habitable.
>If life ever existed on Mars, it is possible that similar fossilised remains could be found.
>In a new study, published in the journal Geology, researchers examined samples from the Dresser Formation in greater detail than ever before.
>Not only do they add weight to arguments that these structures represent some of the earliest traces of life on this planet, but also provide a dry run of the process that will be performed on Martian rocks when they are returned to Earth.
Geology, DOI 10.1130/G50390.1