Scientists have found some small tubes and filaments in a Canadian rock. These things might be the oldest known fossil on Earth, according to them.
The tiny tubes and filaments were said to have lived 3.77 billion to 4.28 billion years ago, the same team of scientists said. The fossils are mineralized remains of what appear to be bacteria. It is definitely older than what were found in Greenland, ABC News reported. This discovery may have proven that life on Earth started under the sea and near the volcanoes. The water in the sea was heated by the volcano and because of that, life was supported.
The research, which was published in the journal titled"Nature", explained that the ocean floor might have housed some living organisms when the Earth was still forming or was newly formed. The team of scientists has set their goal to find some of the oldest fossils on the Nuvvuagittuq supracrustal belt in Quebec, Canada. Now, this particular rock unit is only a part of the ancient seafloor that once had the hydrothermal vents. It both has fossils from either 3.77 billion or 4.28 billion-years-old depending on which part of the rock group is dated, said Forbes.
The red, small tube-like filaments called hematite might be Earth's oldest fossils, said the international team of scientists lead by Dominic Papineau and Matthew Dodd from University College London. These iron filaments are very much like what the bacteria made from modern hydrothermal vents, authors of the study argued. "Our discovery supports the idea that life emerged from hot, seafloor vents shortly after planet Earth formed. This speedy appearance of life on Earth fits with other evidence of recently discovered 3,700 million-year-old sedimentary mounds that were shaped by microorganisms," explains Dodd, referring to traces of ancient life found in Greenland last year.
There were also other things on the rocks that the scientists found. The structure called "rosette" that might be 4.8 billion old. However, some scientists are still not convinced. Some are saying that those filaments might not be. The scientists are going to do more research to find out.
