Jump to content

Simplest Fossilized Life Forms


Trevor

Recommended Posts

Dear FossilForum goers,

 

I am wondering if anyone could provide me with information on the what the simplest or oldest fossils found are. There seem to be conflicting reports on the internet and I feel that this is a good platform to get answers. I am trying to do more research on and thinking about the origins of life and may purchase so of these fossils. Just a cool hobby or personal project of mine. If anyone has their own ideas on how life began please feel free to share, I really want to access the full scope of thought on one of the most interesting unanswered questions.

 

Kind regards,

Trevor

: )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, caldigger said:

Here's a case chuck full of bacteria. Pretty impressive show huh?!

Yeah, but are any of them really fossilized?:headscratch:

Darwin said: " Man sprang from monkeys."

Will Rogers said: " Some of them didn't spring far enough."

 

My Fossil collection - My Mineral collection

My favorite thread on TFF.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, ynot said:

Cyanobacteria  is the oldest life form I have heard of. Fossils of Cyanobacteria  are rare and microscopic.

Agree. The earliest known fossils of Cyanobacteria date to at least 3.5 billion years ago. It seems the dates for the first appearance of life on earth are gradually being pushed back, as new evidence  emerges, to even earlier points in time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Used to be the 3.5byo microfossils from Western Aus. were the oldest, though the biogenicity of the fossils themselves was debated. More recently, it's 3.7byo stromatolites from the Isua Greenstone Belt in Greenland:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19355

Wish I could get my hands on a chunk of either one!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wait a minute... wasn't there reported last year 3.85 b. y. o. biogenic (possibly) graphite and methane deposits from the island of Akilia (Greenland)?

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, The Amateur Paleontologist said:

Wait a minute... wasn't there reported last year 3.85 b. y. o. biogenic (possibly) graphite and methane deposits from the island of Akilia (Greenland)?

-Christian

 

Maybe, I am going to try to find a source for this. 

 

5 hours ago, Ludwigia said:

Check out this rubrick You'll certainly find some helpful information there.

 

I looked over the News already and I find I article using key word searched but I had unfortunately found it on Science Daily already.

 

6 hours ago, Wrangellian said:

Used to be the 3.5byo microfossils from Western Aus. were the oldest, though the biogenicity of the fossils themselves was debated. More recently, it's 3.7byo stromatolites from the Isua Greenstone Belt in Greenland:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19355

Wish I could get my hands on a chunk of either one!

 

This is the predominant theory going around - Stromatolites 

: )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Trevor Sorry.. I was mistaken - the deposits weren't from Greenland, they were from Labrador (Canada). Here's a link to the Nature article describing these remains of methane and graphite :) 

-Christian

Opalised fossils are the best: a wonderful mix between paleontology and mineralogy!

 

Q. Where do dinosaurs study?

A. At Khaan Academy!...

 

My ResearchGate profile

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me add that the first multicellular organisms are likely older that we thought - in 2017 were published the remains of 2.4 billion year old fungus-like mycelia (essentially molds of branching and anostomosing threads - potential mycelia). This research is sometimes considered controversial however personally I find their arguments compelling enough. Surprisingly, these structures appeared right after (or even during) Great Oxygenation event - a very important milestone in the early evolution of life.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0141

The Tooth Fairy

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Trevor:

 

There is speculation that the earliest life forms on Earth are fossilized organisms found in hydrothermal vent precipitates between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years ago.  However, it is unknown just exactly when the first draft of life appeared on our planet.  That said and with speculation swept aside, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science have publicized the direct evidence of microorganisms permineralized  in 3.426 billion year old Australian chert.  This same claim and others, which I have read about on the web and seen on the Nova and Discovery channels, are likely based upon the academy's findings.  Until scientists find an older site, Australia, which many scientists consider to be the most ancient continent, is the birthplace of life on earth.  The attachment below showcases these earliest known fossils.

 

---- Olenellus

Oldest Fossils.jpg

Olenellus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Olenellus said:

Trevor:

There is speculation that the earliest life forms on Earth are fossilized organisms found in hydrothermal vent precipitates between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years ago.  However, it is unknown just exactly when the first draft of life appeared on our planet.  That said and with speculation swept aside, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science have publicized the direct evidence of microorganisms permineralized  in 3.426 billion year old Australian chert.  This same claim and others, which I have read about on the web and seen on the Nova and Discovery channels, are likely based upon the academy's findings.  Until scientists find an older site, Australia, which many scientists consider to be the most ancient continent, is the birthplace of life on earth.  The attachment below showcases these earliest known fossils.

---- Olenellus

 

Where do you get those numbers, 3.77 and 4.28 billion? I'd like to read whatever paper that came from.

I think the stromatolite specimens from Greenland are more than just speculation. Also I've read that there is some doubt about the biological nature of the Australian specimens though I tend to think they are fossils, myself. Western Australia and the Canadian Shield are comparably ancient.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21377

 

  1. Matthew S. Dodd, Dominic Papineau, Tor Grenne, John F. Slack, Martin Rittner, Franco Pirajno, Jonathan O’Neil, Crispin T. S. Little. Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitatesNature, 2017; 543 (7643): 60 DOI: 10.1038/nature21377

 

 

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1536298/1/Dodd_et_al_2017_Nature_accepted.pdf

My goal is to leave no stone or fossil unturned.   

See my Arizona Paleontology Guide    link  The best single resource for Arizona paleontology anywhere.       

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Voila!  DPS Ammonite.  That matches my own data.  There is a bibliography for this claim shown in Wikipedia.

 

Olenellus

Olenellus

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://paleoitalia.org/media/attachments/news_news/164/01_Westall_2016_BSPI_552.pdf

Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 55 (2), 2016, 85-103. Modena
ISSN 0375-7633 doi:10.4435/BSPI.2016.09
Microbial palaeontology and the origin of life: a personal approach
Frances Westall
F. Westall, CNRS-Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, Rue Charles Sadron, CS 80054, Orléans cedex 2, France; frances.westall@cnrs-orleans.fr
 

Microbial palaeontology and the origin of life: a personal approach Frances Westall F. Westall, CNRS-Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, Rue Charles Sadron, CS 80054, Orléans cedex 

ABOUT 4,5 Mb,and worth your while!

Like e.g. Walter,Schopf,Knoll,Butterfield,Frances Westall is great in elucidating the links between taphonomic processes and microbiota

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 10/16/2018 at 11:52 PM, DPS Ammonite said:

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature21377

  1. Matthew S. Dodd, Dominic Papineau, Tor Grenne, John F. Slack, Martin Rittner, Franco Pirajno, Jonathan O’Neil, Crispin T. S. Little. Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitatesNature, 2017; 543 (7643): 60 DOI: 10.1038/nature21377

http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1536298/1/Dodd_et_al_2017_Nature_accepted.pdf

Thanks much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...