Stunning 3D Reveals Ancient Lifeforms Preserved in 1.5-Billion-Year-Old Gemstones

A team of researchers from Technische Universität Berlin, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Museum of Natural History Berlin, and the National Museum of Natural History in Luxembourg has made an extraordinary discovery. They have found the oldest three-dimensionally preserved microfossils on Earth at the Volyn quartz mine near the city of Zhytomyr, Ukraine.

Prior evidence of such ancient microorganisms mainly relied on indirect and often unreliable traces, such as casts in rocks, chemical residues resulting from organic matter decomposition, or complex structures that couldn’t be explained solely by geological processes. The preservation potential of organisms significantly improved around 500 million years ago when life started using minerals like calcium carbonate or phosphate to create hard parts. By chance, the researchers stumbled upon the 1.5-billion-year-old fossils while studying the minerals found in the mine.

“It’s truly fascinating that we can now study the fossils of ancient microorganisms using a scanning electron microscope. Originally, we were investigating beryl and topaz from the mine, but what we have discovered is far more valuable than any gemstones,” explained Professor Emeritus Dr. Gerhard Franz of the Institute of Applied Geosciences at TU Berlin.

“Under our electron microscope, we are primarily observing fibrous structures. These structures consist of thin branching filaments or thicker filaments with small protrusions or dents,” Franz elaborated. The objects’ thickness ranges from 10 to 200 micrometers, and their length can reach several millimeters, making them visible to the naked eye. Some even have a thin channel in the middle.

“Through carbon isotope analysis, we have been able to prove that our findings were once living organisms,” stated Franz. Using infrared spectroscopy, the researchers also detected the substance chitosan in certain filamentous objects, as well as the elements bismuth and tellurium using an electron microscope.

“All the evidence points to a fungus-like organism,” said Franz. However, this only applies to some of the findings. Franz added, “From the other fossilized microorganisms, we can at least assume that they were either single or multicellular organisms with distinct cell structures. These organisms likely coexisted with the fungi in a shared ecosystem.”

The discovery of a few previously unidentified forms of microorganisms is particularly exciting. These forms exhibit structures resembling spheres or tentacle-like branches.

The location of the fossilized microorganisms on granite rock in a quartz mine suggests both their habitat and the reasons behind their exceptional state of preservation.

“Even to this day, microorganisms can live as deep as three kilometers within the Earth’s crust, without sunlight. They rely on substances like phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, some of which dissolve in water and migrate downwards through cracks and crevices or are already present there,” explained Franz.

These microorganisms derive the necessary energy for their metabolism from chemical processes occurring on minerals. In the granite caverns of the Volyn quartz mine, colonies of microorganisms likely existed near the Earth’s surface 1.5 billion years ago. Due to the abundance of fluorine in granite, the interaction between water and heat led to the formation of highly corrosive hydrofluoric acid. This acid dissolved a significant amount of aluminum and silicon.

Similar to a geyser, the acid solution periodically shot into the caverns, covering the microorganisms with a micrometer-thin layer of aluminum-silicate, or beryl. “While the microorganisms perished as a result, they were perfectly preserved,” Franz clarified.

“We have only scratched the surface of this fascinating discovery. Further investigations and possible new findings could provide even more insights into ancient microorganisms, including unknown forms found on land, not just in the sea,” concluded Franz.

This research could yield new knowledge about the early development of life on Earth and potentially shed light on the formation of life under extreme conditions on other planets.

The study titled “The Volyn biota (Ukraine)—indications of 1.5 Gyr old eukaryotes in 3D preservation, a spotlight on the ‘boring billion'” was published in the journal Biogeosciences in 2023. Additional material and interviews were provided by Technische Universität Berlin.

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