Life Appeared On Earth 300 Million Years Earlier Than Thought

Although the earth is believed to be about 4.5 billion years old, researchers explain that this beautiful, colourful planet probably housed life earlier than we had thought.

The evidence for this bit of news has been discovered by scientists from UC Los Angeles in biogenic carbon, in a 4.1 billion-year-old graphite sample encased in a crystal, or a zircon piece. This material is among the most ancient material samples on Earth.

Hence, the team led by Elizabeth Bell, says that the evidence of earth's first living organisms has gone back by 300 million years. The carbon was procured at Jack Hills of Western Australia, with an isotopic ratio seemed to be associated with organic matter.

"On Earth today, if you were looking at this carbon, you would say it was biogenic," she said. "Of course, that's more controversial for something so old," Bell said.

So far, earth's rock extended back to just 4 billion years, so in order to go back further, scientists need to examine mineral deposits in the sediments of the rock, KRWG News 22 reported.

Scientists studied 10,000 zircons in molten rocks, and found that 656 zircons had some dark specks that contained the facts. They examined and analysed 79 of these zircons with Raman Spectroscopy, a technique exhibiting the molecular and chemical structure of ancient micro-organisms in three dimensions.

Graphite, or pure carbon, was contained in one of the 79 zircons in two locations. They also had a "characteristic signature", which was "specific in ratio to carbon-12 and carbon-13, indicating photosynthetic life".

Hence, the evidence seemed to point to the fact that life existed before the "massive bombardment" about 3.9 billion years ago, which also led to the craters on the moon.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.