Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New Evidence of the Antiquity of Life

1993/04/30 by J. William Schopf · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis #Archean #Extant taxon #Apex (geometry) #Taxon #Assemblage (archaeology) #Paleontology #Biology #Geology #Evolutionary biology #Botany

paper · doi:10.1126/science.260.5108.640

openalex publication_date 1993/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

Eleven taxa (including eight heretofore undescribed species) of cellularly preserved filamentous microbes, among the oldest fossils known, have been discovered in a bedded chert unit of the Early Archean Apex Basalt of northwestern Western Australia. This prokaryotic assemblage establishes that trichomic cyanobacterium-like microorganisms were extant and morphologically diverse at least as early as approximately 3465 million years ago and suggests that oxygen-producing photoautotrophy may have already evolved by this early stage in biotic history.

Citations

• Microflora of the H.Y.C. Pyritic Shale Member of the Barney Creek Formation (McArthur Group), middle Proterozoic of northern Australia
• Stromatolites from the 3,300–3,500-Myr Swaziland Supergroup, Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa

Cited by

• A fresh look at the fossil evidence for early Archaean cellular life
• Metasomatic Origin of Quartz-Pyroxene Rock, Akilia, Greenland, and Implications for Earth's Earliest Life
• The origin of eukaryotes: the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells
• History of life [wikipedia]