Oldest fossil

Oldest fossil

Last updated: October 13, 2017 at 0:58 am

3.7 billion years – Small humps of mostly aquatic bacteria known as stromatolites were found in rocks in the Isua Greenstone Belt, in Greenland, in 2011. They were formed by successive layers of cyanobacteria, a single-celled photosynthesizing microbe that lives in shallow water.

SOURCE:

Wade, Nicholas (31 August 2016). World’s Oldest Fossils Found in Greenland. New York Times.

Modern stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia. Photo by Paul Harrison (Creative Commons)

Stromatolites in the Hoyt Limestone (Cambrian) exposed at Lester Park, near Saratoga Springs, New York. Photo by Rygel, M.C. (Creative Commons)

Microbialite towers at Pavilion Lake, British Columbia. Photo by Donnie Reid | NASA Pavilion Lake research project (Public Domain)

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Jeffrey Gallant

Jeffrey Gallant is the Editor-in-Chief and Records Keeper of the Diving Almanac. He is also a contributing editor of DIVER Magazine, and the scientific director of the Greenland Shark and Elasmobranch Education and Research Group (GEERG). Jeffrey started diving in 1982.