Stromatolites also tend to grow in alkaline conditions, but the Puna de Atacama’s system of lagoons are acidic. The stromatolites found today are almost all carbonate rocks (made of limestone ...

Modern stromatolites are relatively small, Hynek said, whereas ancient stromatolites used to grow to 20 feet (6 meters) tall and 16 to 22 feet (5 to 7 meters) wide, he said.

Scientists discovered a previously hidden ecosystem - lagoons in Argentina's Puna de Atacama harbors microbial communities, ...

Science; Argentina; Scientists find signs of earliest life on Earth after 3.5 billion-year-old discovery Stromatolites (Greek for "layered rock") are living fossils found only in a few salty ...

Although these stromatolites have undergone severe diagenesis and weathering and preserve no organic materials, a team led by Dr. Keyron Hickman-Lewis of the Natural History Museum, London, has ...

Stromatolites are layered carbonate structures formed by photosynthetic cyanobacteria. Dating back more than 3.5 billion years, they are among Earth's oldest known fossils.

But at least stromatolites won’t try to trample or eat you. Instead, those unassuming piles of sediment and bacteria will just keep doing what they’ve been doing for billions of years: pumping out ...

Researchers have discovered a unique lagoon ecosystem in Argentina’s high Puna de Atacama Desert, they announced at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union last week. The ecosystem, which ...

The oldest stromatolites that scientists agree were made by living organisms date back 3.43 billion years, but there are older specimens, too. In the Dresser Formation of Western Australia, ...

Stromatolites are layered biochemical structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding, and cementation of sedimentary grains by microorganisms.

Stromatolites also tend to grow in alkaline conditions, but the Puna de Atacama’s system of lagoons are acidic. The stromatolites found today are almost all carbonate rocks (made of limestone ...