Light micrograph of a rock thin section of Gunflint cherts from Ontario, Canada, showing fossil remains of the earliest life forms yet found, dating f

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Light micrograph of a rock thin section of Gunflint cherts from Ontario, Canada, showing fossil remains of the earliest life forms yet found, dating from two billion years ago. The sample includes a mixture of organic detritus, filaments resembling the modern day filamentous blue green algae, & colonies of algae (spikelets). Not visible, but included among Gunflints are spheroids - related to coccoid blue green algae of today. These primitive plants gained energy through photosynthesis, releasing free oxygen into the environment as a by product. This had far reaching consequences for the subsequent history of the environment. Mag:X160 (35mm size)

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Size: 5232px × 3412px
Photo credit: © SINCLAIR STAMMERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: algae, blue, blue-green, cherts, cyanobacteria, fossil, fossils, green, gunflint, microfossils, organisms, palaeontology, paleontology, plant, plants, primitive