Early bacteria and their volcanic homes

[Brian G Turner]

Geologists have discovered microscopic burrows where some of Earth's earliest lifeforms bored their way into volcanic glass 3.5 billion years ago. The tubes, from rocks in South Africa's Barberton Greenstone Belt, retain traces of organic carbon left behind by the microorganisms, the authors say.

The microbes etched their way into rocks that formed as lava oozed out across a sea floor in Archaean times.

An international team published details of the work in the journal Science.

Harald Furnes, of the University of Bergen, Norway, and his colleagues found tubular structures in the glassy rind on so-called pillow lavas.


Researchers have previously identified similar structures called microtubules in present-day pillow lavas, where they were interpreted as the trails left by rock-munching microorganisms.

Modern examples have been shown to contain nucleic acids and increased traces of carbon and nitrogen, the key elements of life.

The team found ancient microtubules in the Barberton rock which are on average about four micrometres in width and 50 micrometres in length (a micrometre is a millionth of a metre).

In the inner walls of these microtubules, the geologists found traces of carbon, which the authors claim is organic.



More: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3648283.stm

 

[littlemissattitude]

Again, this reminds us how life can thrive in what we think of as strange and hostile environments. That life can exist in places like this just shows that there is a good chance of life developing outside the earth.