A group of Australian scientist made a major discovery that could change the way in which we see our world. They discovered that our planet had life much earlier than we imagined. The fossilized remains they found indicate that there was life on our planet over 4,100 million years ago, much earlier than the initial 300 million years that other scientist estimated.
The fossils where discovered on the western mountains in Australia, also known as Jack Hills. There they found zircon fragments, which are a mixture of carbon isotopes, also known as “quimiofossils”. This study, published on the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that these remains are proof of biotic life, or something even more advance. The coauthor of the study and teacher of geochemistry at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), Mark Harrison, supports this.
This new date tells us that over 4,400 million years ago, Earth already had life, which suggests that life on our planet developed quite quickly. These remains tell us that life on Earth began when it was a simple volcanic infant.
It is well documented that Earth was first inhabited by microorganisms. This group of researchers examined the tiny zircon mineral parts and proved that there was in fact biological activity in our geologic records which date back to 400 million years back. Of course, this has led to scientific discussions concerning the real antiquity of these microfossil bacteria in the archaic rocks.
The finding of these carbon masses had a higher percentage of another type of lighter carbon. It is very rare when these types of marks come from a living being, they only occur under certain situations. Harrison assures that the carbon he found comes from a small colony of unknown organisms, which are evidence that life on Earth began more than 300 million years ago.
The zircon found proves that our planet used to function much like it does today, erasing previous thought that it did not have sufficient water to secure life.
We live constantly surrounded by thousands of bacteria. For example, in one gram of fertile soil we will find billions of bacteria. They grow both inside and out plants and animals. They’re in our air, water and ground.
Today we know that bacteria are much older and resistant than we ever thought, and that they are able to live in harsh conditions where no other living creature would. And this recent Australian finding is the perfect example of this. This is evidence of our origins and development.
ALFA