The 'stromatolite' that recorded organisms over 3 billion years ago is being lost
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Stromatolite is a rock formed by stacking layers of blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and sediments such as earth and sand. Stromatolites, which continue to stack even today, live in a small area of Australia, but it seems that such stromatolites are in danger of extinction.
Stromatolites, the 3.5-billion-year-old living fossils near Port Lincoln, face a worrying future --ABC News
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-12/stromatolites-billion-year-old-port-lincoln-uncertain-future/12656860
In stromatolite, blue-green algae photosynthesize on the surface of earth and sand in the daytime, divide into the upper part while fixing the earth and sand with mucus at night, and photosynthesize in the daytime. Stack them one by one. Older ones, which were piled up about 3.7 billion years ago, were found in the strata.
A fossil that is said to be the 'oldest activity trace of life in the world' 3.7 billion years ago is discovered --GIGAZINE
Stromatolites themselves exist all over the world, but only a few continue to stack even today. Some of them are located in Sleaford Mere , a salt lake located in southern Australia. The stromatolites that exist in Sleaford Mere are old and have been around for nearly 3.5 billion years.
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Aaron Camens, a paleontologist at Flinders University, said, 'Stromatolites have evidence of the first organisms that began to shape the planet we live in. Stromatolites change the composition of the atmosphere and Sufficient oxygen was released to sustain life. '
According to Camens, stromatolites are vulnerable enough to be greatly influenced by other organisms. Therefore, it is said that stromatolites are living because of Sleaford Mere, where few other creatures live in the salt lake.
by Kristina DC Hoeppner
However, recent sea-level rise threatens the survival of Sleaford Mere's stromatolites, Camens points out. 'If the sea level rises and Sleaford Mere is covered by the sea, blue-green algae can be drowned or buried,' Camens said.
In the past, there was an idea to transplant stromatolite to another place, but it was not implemented because it was completely unknown how the transplant would affect stromatolite. 'Stromatolites are evidence of the earliest life on Earth, and we must cherish this heritage,' said Dr. Camens.
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