The oldest true fossils are trace fossils called Stromatolites found in Australia, and dated between 3.5 to 3.3 billion years old.
Raphael Baumgartner and their team have finally uncovered evidence of organic matter in the ancient rock formations known as stromatolites found at the Dresser Formation fossil site in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. They detail their findings in a new article published in the journal Geology.
With a variety of methods, including scanning electron microscopy, scanning transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, nano-scale secondary ion mass spectrometry, and stable carbon isotope analysis, the researchers examined the samples in thin slices.
According to the team's analyses, pyrite, a mineral with many tiny pores, makes up the majority of the stromatolites. Additionally, the pyrite contains nitrogen-bearing organic material and strands and filaments of organic material that closely resemble the remains of microbial biofilm colonies.
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