The fossils found in WA could give insight
into the possible habitats of life beneath
the Martian surface.
Image: iStockphoto
Research conducted in Western Australia’s Pilbara region has provided a view of what life may have looked like on ancient Earth and other planets in the solar system, including Mars.
The research, lead by Curtin University of Technology’s Professor Birger Rasmussen and involving three other researchers from Curtin and the University of Western Australia, focused on deposits formed by microbes in ancient sediment cavities in Pilbara sandstone.
The fossils, which are in rocks about 2.75 billion years old, are more than one and a half billion years older than previously studied fossils of cavity-dwelling life.
For Professor Rasmussen, this research gives scientists a window into the Earth’s ancient history, and insights into the possible habitats of ancient, or even current, life beneath the Martian surface.
The fossils resemble centimetre-scale stalactites and are believed to have been built up in layers by bacteria living on the “roofs” of small, cavities in the sediments.
“In the Pilbara we were able to study preserved fossils of ancient bacterial life better than anywhere else in the world,” he said.
Not only does this discovery have implications to the study of ancient life on Earth, it may also be relevant to the search for life on other planets.
“Synsedimentary cavities are an important new target for the search for life on Mars,” Professor Rasmussen said.
“The surface environment of Mars appears to have been inhospitable for much of its history.
“However, earlier in its history, the sub-surface environment may have been be quite hospitable for simple organisms, such as bacteria, just as in the Pilbara.” The descendants of any such underground organisms may still survive.
“If we can find the fossilised remains of these microbial deposits on Mars, then it is a good indicator of the existence of life.”
Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.
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