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Ancient Microbial Life Discovered in 2-Billion-Year-Old Rock
Deep beneath the surface, a sealed rock fracture nearly 50 feet down has been home to microbial life for an astonishing 2 billion years. This discovery marks the oldest known life forms found in such extreme conditions. The sample, measuring close to one foot, was extracted from South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex and predates the previous record-holding microbes by as much as 1.9 billion years. This groundbreaking finding could provide insights into the early stages of evolutionary life, not only on Earth but potentially on Mars as well.
The research results were published on October 2 in the journal Microbial Ecology. The study was conducted by a team from the University of Tokyo’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, which had previously identified other ancient life forms back in 2020.
“We were uncertain whether rocks that are over two billion years old could support any form of life… so this discovery is incredibly thrilling,” stated Yohey Suzuki, lead author and associate professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Science.
To uncover these long-hidden microbes required advancing their previous techniques for determining an organism’s age and origin. Researchers employed three imaging methods—electron microscopy, fluorescent microscopy, and infrared spectroscopy—to verify whether these microbial entities were indeed that ancient or if they had been contaminated during excavation or analysis processes. By staining DNA within cells and examining both microbial proteins and their surrounding clay habitat, scientists confirmed that these organisms were alive and native to their fissure environment.
The longevity of these microbes can largely be attributed to their unique habitat within northeastern South Africa’s Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC), a vast area spanning approximately 41,000 square miles known for its rich mineral deposits—including around 70 percent of all mined platinum globally. Millions of years ago, volcanic magma cooled slowly beneath Earth’s crust forming layers up to five miles thick.
These geological formations have remained relatively unchanged over time but contain tiny fissures where microbial populations became densely concentrated. Additionally, clay sediments sealed off any openings near these cracks effectively trapping microorganisms inside while preventing external contamination from entering their environment. Experts believe this stability allowed microbial life to persist at an extremely slow evolutionary rate with minimal changes over billions of years.
Future explorations aim not only to enhance our understanding regarding how organisms evolved on Earth but also hold potential implications for searching evidence of extraterrestrial life on Mars.
“NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance is set to return samples that are similar in age to those we studied,” Suzuki elaborated enthusiastically about future prospects for discovery beyond our planet.
“Finding ancient microbial existence here makes me optimistic about what we might uncover from Martian samples.”
The post Oldest living microbes found in 2-billion-year-old rock appeared first on Popular Science.
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