The oldest 3.7 billion year old fossil on Earth

Australian scientists have discovered the world's oldest fossil on Greenland, dating back 3.7 billion years.

Professor Allen Nutman and Associate Professor Vickie Bennett holding a 3.7 billion-year-old stromatolite sample. Photo: AFP.

Allen Nutman at the University of Wollongong, Australia, led a research team that discovered a fossil structure called a stromatolite (ancient sedimentary rock created by the growth of microorganisms) along the edge of the ice cap on Greenland, Denmark, in early September. The fossil is estimated to have existed 3.7 billion years ago, according to News.com.au.

The stromatolite fossils in Greenland are evidence that life emerged just a few hundred million years after Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago, Nutman said.

"This is the oldest evidence of life on Earth. The rock structures exposed in Greenland are of biological origin," said Martin Julian Van Kranendonk, a professor of geology at the University of New South Wales, Australia.

According to Nutman, the new discovery provides more information for scientists to hunt for life on Mars, a planet that is likely to have microbial life. In the distant past, the red planet is believed to have contained plenty of water, an atmosphere, and a warm climate, creating suitable conditions for bacteria to grow.

"3.7 billion years ago, Mars was probably still wet with oceans. If life evolved quickly enough on Earth to form things like stromatolites, life could have evolved on Mars and left traces to this day. Instead of just looking at chemical signatures, scientists can rely on photos of stromatolites on Mars sent back to Earth to search for life," Nutman told AFP.

According to VNE