Life is all around here, as you can hear, welcome …
… in the past of this planet. Geologists have discovered one of the oldest evidence of life on Earth - a discovery that directly suggests that life could arise on a young planet rather quickly. In addition, this find indirectly indicates that life on Mars could develop in the same way as on Earth, and, possibly, at a faster pace. After all, conditions on the Red Planet were even slightly more favorable! But first things first…
The research team, which includes Australian and British scientists, reported the discovery of a layered structure called stromatolite. The discovery was made in the rocks of Greenland, which are 3.7 billion years old. Stromatolites are a layered microbial formation.
According to experts, the study involved some of the most physically "tortured" rocks on Earth, which have been compressed and heated for many billions of years.
The stones themselves come from the town of Isua, where researchers have tried to find potential signs of ancient life. In the 3.7 billion-year-old rock, experts have discovered alleged stromatolites along with other "evidence" pointing to ancient life. The structures found in the stones are tiny irregularities, only one to four centimeters high.
The texture of the surrounding rock suggests that it formed at the bottom of a shallow sea, like most stromatolites found today in the Bahamas and western Australia. In addition, the stones contain carbonate minerals (dolomite, for example), which also accompany stromatolites: colonies of ancient microbes seem to have grown these minerals around them. These "markers" indicate that life on Earth had already developed decently by that time … Despite the asteroid bombardments at that time. This allows us to be optimistic about our neighbor, Mars.
“Our understanding of the nature of life in the universe is determined by how long it took the Earth to form conditions for life. Mars can now be considered an even more promising potential home for life in the past,”notes Abigail Allwood, one of the authors of the study.
Research on the Red Planet showed that around the same time the rocks were forming in Isua, “Mars was not very different from Earth in terms of habitability, with stagnant water on the surface,” says Allwood.
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Recent studies confirm that advanced life and water on Mars disappeared (or, let's say, significantly reduced their scale) only about 300-320 million years ago. Consequently, the asset of the Red Planet had a long and active period for evolution! Which Mars almost certainly took advantage of, and we have yet to discover traces of that life …