Saturday, January 23, 2021
Sign-In
|
Sign-Up
|
Contact Us
|
Bookmark
Home
News
Articles
Forum
Search
Directory
Blog
Accounts
Business
|
Politics
|
Technology
|
Entertainment
|
Sport
|
Other
|
All Published News
|
Tiny bacteria-size filaments and tubes have been found in 3.5-billion-year-old lava deposits from South Africa
Tiny bacteria-size filaments and tubes have been found in 3.5-billion-year-old lava deposits from South Africa. They are strong evidence that ancient microbes ate their way into the glassy rock as it cooled deep on the ocean floor, researchers write in tomorrow's edition of the journal Science. Earth's earliest organisms may have liked it hot, according to scientists. New fossils bolster claims that early life may have been linked to volcanic environments. "This is by far the best evidence I've seen for extremely early life on Earth," commented Martin Fisk, oceanographer at Oregon State University in Corvallis. The style of the pits and fossilized tubes in these ancient pillow lavas are identical in appearance to the marks left behind by bacteria in lava that cools today on the ocean floor, Fisk said. "Pillow lava" is the term used for groups of rounded masses of lava formed underwater. Most geologists searching for signs life in the oldest rocks have been looking at sedimentary deposits, not volcanic rock, Muehlenbachs said. A more established theory on the evolution of life holds that organisms first developed in warm, mineral-rich tidal pools, where sedimentary deposits might accumulate, he said, inform nationalgeographic.com Scientists studying ancient creatures celebrate finds such as an ankle bone or jaw fragment because they help to piece together the varied history of our planet-s past inhabitants. But as investigators reach ever farther back in time, the evidence of early life becomes increasingly difficult to discern. A new discovery may help to fill in some of the blanks. Researchers report that tiny tubes in rocks that are billions of years old further suggest that microbes were eating their way into lava on the ocean floor during Earth-s early history. Harald Furnes of the University of Bergen in Norway and his colleagues detected the trails in pillow lava from South Africa-s Barberton Greenstone Belt, which dates to 3.5 billion years ago. The diminutive tunnels, just four microns wide and about 50 microns long, look very similar to the product of microbial burrowing seen in modern volcanic rocks. In addition, the scientists detected carbon on the inside of the tubes, which they say is further evidence of the biogenic origin of the structures. The authors conclude that their findings "suggest that microbial life colonized these subaqueous volcanic rocks soon after their eruption almost 3.5 billion years ago," report sciam.com According to BBC the rock has not lain unaltered since Archaean times: "It was pushed down into the Earth and cooked at well over 300 degrees (Celsius) for millions of years." As the rocks were squeezed and heated, they "metamorphosed". Volcanic glass transformed into a mineral called chlorite. But this was a subtle conversion, say the researchers, which preserved original structures such as the microtubules. The team claims observations of the fine structure of the burrows show they were overgrown by chlorite after being pushed beneath the Earth.
Related News
In the next few years, Russian users of the Internet will grow to 30 million people
New version of dinosaur extinction
Soyuz TMA-4 has successfully linked up with the International Space Station
Experts say that a baby boom has begun in Russia
Researchers found that people who say they are addicted to chocolate or pizza may not be exaggerating
On Wednesday the Petr Veliki nuclear missile cruiser has been put for repairs to the dock of the ship-building factory in Roslyakovo
Cherkassy has become the first city in Ukraine to ban smoking in public places
The surgery involves plumping up the vocal cords to turn old shaky voices into strong clear ones
Hormone replacement therapy during menopause causes disease risk
The spaceship Soyuz TMA-4, with an international crew of three on board, lifted off Monday at 7:18 A.M. local time from the Baikonur space center
Passports with biometric information may appear in Russia in 2006
Gennady Padalka of Russia, American Michael Fincke and Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands take sun glasses, photographs of their wives, a pocket computer and music disks with them into orbit
Government Needs to Understand Plight of Russian Science
Russia shares concerns of the International Atomic Energy Agency on the illegal spread of weapons of mass destruction
Astronomers have discovered a planet orbiting a distant star some 17,000 light years away by using a sort of interstellar magnifying glass to look into the centre of the galaxy
TransTeleKom and China Unicom have announced the official opening of a new transcontinental land-based fiber-optic communications link between Europe and Asia
Moscow's Meshchansky district court has left the Menatep financial group's head Platon Lebedev in custody
The essentially new third stage engine of the Soyuz 2-1B carrier rocket, will increase its carrying capacity by more than a metric ton
82% of Russians want their country thought of as a leader in space explorations
The 19th congress of the International Association of Space Explorers will be held here in August
Mar
April 2004
May
Mo
Tu
We
Th
Fr
Sa
Su
29
30
31
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9