Scientists say that microbial mats built 3.4-billion-year-old stromatolites

Stromatolites are dome- or column-like sedimentary rock structures that are formed in shallow water, layer by layer, over long periods of geologic time. Now, researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have provided evidence that some of the most ancient stromatolites on our planet were built with the help of communities of equally ancient microorganisms, a finding that 'adds unexpected depth to our understanding of the earliest record of life on Earth,' notes JPL astrobiologist Abigail Allwood, a visitor in geology at Caltech...

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