Scientists Uncover Prehistoric Area Potentially Housing One of Earth’s Oldest Signs of Life

In Argentina, within the Puna de Atacama plateau at an altitude of approximately 3,700 meters, a scientifically remarkable ecosystem has been discovered. This area is adorned with white salt flats and greenish lagoons, hosting extensive bacterial communities known as stromatolites.

Simultaneously, this ecosystem sheds light on the period when the first organisms emerged on Earth. Geologist Brian Hynek suggested that this lagoon could be one of the modern examples of the earliest signs of life on Earth. Hynek expressed that he had never seen such an ecosystem elsewhere, marking this as significantly novel for the scientific community.

This discovery is linked to fossilized stromatolites found in Marble Bar, Western Australia, which are among the oldest evidence of life on Earth, dating back 3.45 billion years. Hynek indicates that this newly discovered ecosystem could also provide insights into the past of Mars, a planet that was once filled with lakes and rivers but is now desertified.