Last March we undertook our first exciting field trip aimed at looking for stromatolites… and we found them!
Stromatolites are sedimentary structures built up by the action of microbial mats. In addition to being very beautiful, stromatolites are of great scientific interest since they represent the sign of primordial life on Earth.
Studying the modern living stromatolites may help to understand the processes that have led to the accumulation of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere that occurred 2 billion years ago and, thus, allowing the evolution of more complex forms of life.
We are looking forward to analyzing the samples we collected during our field campaign and investigating the complex biogeochemical reaction regulating the growth of modern stromatolites: an extraordinary example of Mineralia Viva.
