Researchers Unearthed Oldest Microfossils Suffesting Life Thrived on Earth 4 Billion Years Ago

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The oldest microfossil ever unearthed revealed that life on Earth thrived 4 billion years ago. Biochemists at University College London date the microfossil discovered in Quebec between 4.28 billion and 3.77 billion years old. However, other scientists dispute the claim that the exhumed microfossil held life.

In a report from Science News, Matthew Dodd, a biochemist and the co-author of the research from the University College London suggests that the microfossils dug from Quebec were formed when the Earth was still young. The next oldest microfossil possibly containing traces of life was found in Greenland and is reported to be just under 3.5 billion years old.

According to Matthey Dodd, the microfossil contains remnants of microbes. If Dodd's claim turns out to be accurate, these microfossils could provide insight into Earth's early environment and the microbes could give clues to the early life on Earth. Dodd said that "these are big claims - these are our origins."

The National Geographic reports that stalks of iron-rich minerals contained in the rock may be evidence of the earliest life-forms on Earth. The researchers suggest that the microfossil is similar to the structures produced by microbes found around undersea hydrothermal vents.

The recently discovered microfossils give credence to the theory that the warm, watery mineral-rich neighborhoods around submerged vents are ideal locations for life to emerge. With regards to these set of microfossils, other scientists are skeptical.

While Martin Van Kranendonk, an astrobiologist from University of New South Wales in Sydney, loves the idea that the remnants of the recently uncovered microfossils could contain microbes, he is not convinced. Kranendonk says that "there's just not definitive proof that any textures or the minerals or features that they have (the recently discovered microfossils) is unique of life."

Dodd's team, however, is convinced that what they found was a precursor of early life on Earth. The carbon signature of life and minerals, including apatite, has been linked to biological activity. Dodd says "There's no other mechanism that can explain all of these observations."

David Wacey, a Paleobiologist from the University of Western Australia in Crawley said that the researchers who found the microfossils have come up with a "pretty convincing biological scenario" even if the "individual lines of chemical evidence are not particularly strong." However, Wacey anticipates that the recently found microfossils, dubbed the Quebec rocks, will face heavy scrutiny.