Microbiologists have discovered some the oldest evidence of life on Earth in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, about 150kms inland from Port Hedland.
A paper published in the journal Astrobiology described a complex microbiological system that dates back 3.5 billion years, the earliest signs of life so far discovered.
These fossilised "microbial mats" are likely to have formed in a pool that had separated from the ocean, possibly on a volcanic island that grew out of the one billion-year-old earth that was still covered mostly in water.
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These pools are known to be brimming with microbial life, but in the case of our 3.5 billion-year-old ancestors found in the WA MISS, some of the single-celled bacteria appeared to be quite large, some several centimetres across.
According to Dr Wacey, the discovery of this primitive microbial community provides evidence of the types of the life that might exist on planets other than earth.
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http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technolog...fe-found-in-wa
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