Microorganisms Rock Salt Alive Geology Earth
Scientists have discovered microorganisms in 830-million year old rock salt that could potentially still be alive. These remnants of prokaryotic and algal life were found using multiple imaging techniques capable of spotting well-preserved organic solids locked within fluid inclusions embedded in an ancient piece of rock salt, also known as halite, from the Neoproterozoic Browne Formation in Australia.


Microorganisms Rock Salt Alive Geology Earth
Typical fossils from this period are embedded into rock formations, but salt doesn’t quite preserve organic matter in the same way. In other words, living material in small amounts trapped inside salt as it crystalizes could still possibly be alive. If confirmed, this could be a game changer for future astronauts on Mars, as it would mean that these microorganisms can survive the harshest of conditions, including heavy radiation, inside the fluid inclusion. Who knows? We may also see this algae-powered computer on future space missions.

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Possible survival of microorganisms over geologic time scales is not fully understood. It has been suggested that radiation would destroy organic matter over long time periods, yet Nicastro et al. (2002) found that buried 250 million-year-old halite was exposed to only negligible amounts of radiation,” said the researchers.

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