MARUM –Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen
We might need to rethink what we know about the oldest fossils ever found.
Some of the best evidence for early life is provided by structures called stromatolites. Many geologists assume these stromatolites were made by microbes living in shallow, sun-drenched water. This means that life, if it emerged on the deep seafloor as some scientists believe, spread to shallow regions rapidly.
A new discovery questions that conclusion. It is a stromatolite that formed recently in the deep, dark water at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. …