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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

Do they know if there was ever any lagoons next to volcanos on Mars?

So how was the dating 3.48 billion years ago?

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So you're saying this life originated in a "shiny brine"?

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

No I mean, how was the dating back then?

Girls always busy washing their hair...

It was the best time to be asexual in the history of Earth!

That excuse worked billions of years before hair or Saved by the Bell ever existed

Zack "Timed-Out" so hard it was burned into our planets geologic history.

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.

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.