Indian Scientists Unearth 3.5-Billion-Year-Old Traces of Early Life
What Happened
A team led by Indian geologist Trisrota Chaudhuri of the Geological Survey of India has discovered 3.5-billion-year-old evidence of microbial life in the Singhbhum Craton near Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, one of Earth’s oldest surviving pieces of continental crust. The researchers identified fossilised microbial mats preserved in carbon-rich rock and, for the first time, were able to directly date the biological material using zircon crystals found in the same rock. The findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Key Takeaways
The finding provides some of the strongest evidence yet that microbial life existed on Earth 3.5 billion years ago, making Jharkhand's Singhbhum Craton a key site for understanding the origins of life on the planet.