They have found fossils more than 2.1 billion years old that change what we know about the beginning of complex life on Earth.

Complex life on Earth is understood as the transition from simple single-celled organisms to more complex microorganisms that later gave rise to animals and plants. It could have started 1.5 billion years earlier than previously thought.Analysis of fossil remains found in an underwater volcanic crater in Gabon, central Africa, has also revealed that.

Their geochemical study, published in the journal Precambrian Research, suggests that complex life forms existed on Earth 2.1 billion years ago, compared to the 635 million years that science has so far determined for their beginning.

Transformation in The dating was determined by analysis of complex microorganisms found in the large fossilized stones. (about 17 cm) It was found in an underwater volcanic tomb near the city of Franceville (Gabon), on the Atlantic coast of central Africa.

Origin

Its existence is the result, according to researchers, of a unique episode of underwater volcanic activity. This happened after two continents collided, resulting in an unusually rich supply of nutrients in that region.

This collision of continents could have led to an increase in marine oxygen and phosphorus concentrations, two “ingredients” ideal for the evolution of life, “particularly in the transition from simple single-celled organisms to complex organisms such as animals and plants,” says one of the authors, Cardiff University Earth Sciences researcher Ernest Che Fro.

“We think that underwater volcanoes following the impact cut off this portion of the global ocean to create a shallow, nutrient-rich inland marine sea,” the researcher said in a statement from Cardiff University.

“In this inland sea, an environment was created in which cyanobacterial photosynthesis was abundant for a long period of time, resulting in oxygenation of local seawater and generation of food resources. It refers to the increase in the size of primitive life.

Evolution in two stages Scientists believe that the “closed” nature of this body of water, combined with the hostile conditions that existed outside the boundaries of this environment for billions of years afterward, prevented these mysterious life forms from evolving and integrating into the world.

In this way, the study suggests that there were two stages of complex life on Earth: the first occurred in this specific space 2.1 billion years ago, and the second, after oxygen levels increased in the atmosphere, about 1.5 billion years later. While the first attempt failed to spread, the second led to the emergence of the animal biodiversity we know today.

Evie