Thrombolites at Lake Clifton. Thrombolites are a living relic from the earliest days of life, when they produced oxygen that over eons created the atm


Thrombolites at Lake Clifton. Thrombolites are a living relic from the earliest days of life, when they produced oxygen that over eons created the atmosphere we live in today. The rock-like structures cover a total of about 4 sq km in the calcium carbonate-rich fresh water of the lake, growing at an average of a millimetre a year. A boardwalk allows viewing without damage to the thrombolites. Yalgorup National Park, Western Australia, Australia


Size: 3000px × 1993px
Photo credit: © Ian Beattie/AUSCAPE / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: accretion, algae, ancient, auscape, australian, bacterial, beattie, chlorophyll, coastal, colonies, community, critically, cyanobacteria, cyanophytes, earliest, early, ecological, endangered, form, fossils, ian, landscape, life, living, mat, microbial, microbialites, oxygen, photosynthesis, plain, primitive, ramsar, rocks, scenery, single-celled, site, submerged, swan, wetland