Find living specimens of the oldest forms of life on Earth

Weather of Arabia - Researchers found live samples of the oldest microbes on Earth (stromatolites), which are the oldest evidence of life on Earth, within a World Heritage area in Tasmania, Australia .

Sedimentary rocks that contain microbes date back about 3.7 billion years, and are considered part of the solution to the puzzle that constitutes the geological history of the Earth, thanks to the layers of cyanobacteria consisting of a biofilm (a thin biofilm). The gathering of stromatolite layers led to the formation of rock structures .

The new discovery may help find living stromatolites in Tasmania for the first time, researchers to understand why these living specimens spread and grow for millions of years on Earth, only to disappear after that and a few of them remain in "exceptional places ".

It is reported that modern living examples of sedimentary rocks are rare. It was found in fresh water within the Tasmanian wetlands.

Researchers from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks and Environmental Waters, as well as the University of Tasmania, conducted a survey of an unusual type of bog that resides in the soil under limestone and carbonate rocks, where they discovered the rare living specimens .

The researchers believe that the mineral water in the protected site was the decisive factor in the survival of the stromatolite samples, which were scattered on the hills from which fresh water flows .