Researchers have previously found small fibrous and tubular structures in the rock, but these structures appear to have been formed by bacteria. However, not all scientists agree that these structures have a biological origin.
Now, after much analysis, researchers at University College London have discovered a larger and more complex structure within the rock, a single structure with parallel branches on one side about a centimeter long.
The researchers said that while some structures are thought to have been created by random chemical reactions, the stem-like structure with parallel branches is thought to be of biological origin because no structure is created by chemical reactions.
The first evidence of life on Earth is from a 3.46-billion-year-old rock in Western Australia that contains microfossils resembling worms.
“In this study, we looked at different pieces of evidence to show that several different types of bacteria existed from 3.75 to 4.28 billion years ago,” said lead author of the School of Studies at University College London. Earth science, Earth exists. This means that life could begin 300 million years after the formation of the Earth. Geologically, this process is very fast and is similar to the rotation of the Sun around our galaxy.
Researchers have found evidence of how bacteria obtain energy in several ways. They found traces of inorganic chemicals compatible with ancient microorganisms, including iron, sulfur and possibly carbon dioxide, which are received and survived by oxygen-free photosynthesis.
The results of these new discoveries indicate that there may have been different microorganisms on the early Earth. Their presence affects the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
In this study, researchers reported that Dr. Papineau examined belt rocks in the Nojiatok crust (NSB).
The Novakitok crust belt was once part of the sea floor and thus contains some of the oldest sedimentary rocks on Earth which are believed to lie in the vicinity of a hydrothermal well system.
The researchers cut 100-micron-thick pieces of paper to look closely at the micro-fossil structures made of a type of iron oxide surrounded by hematite and quartz.
This rock is twice as thick as the rocks the researchers cut, allowing the researchers to see larger structures of hematite.
Compare these structures and compounds with new fossils as well as iron-oxidizing bacteria near modern well systems.
In addition to analyzing the rock samples under different lights and Raman (light scattering measurement) microscopes, the team used rock fragments to process thousands of images using two supercomputer high-resolution imaging techniques.
The first method was computed tomography or micro-imaging, which uses X-rays to examine the hematite inside the stones. The second method was a focused ion beam that examined 200-nm-thick rock fragments using an integrated electron microscope in each section. Both methods produced a set of images that were used to create 3D models for different purposes.
In their analysis, the researchers concluded that hematite structures could not form compact (metamorphic) refractory rock for billions of years.
They claim that these structures are better preserved in smaller quartz (less affected by metamorphism) than in larger (more mutated) quartz.
The researchers examined levels of rare earth elements in the rock and found that its surface was similar to other ancient rock types. This confirms that the sea floor sediments are as old as the surrounding volcanic rocks.
