Found oxygen stored by bacteria in fossil samples 1.6 billion years ago

According to Geobiology magazine, Swedish and Danish paleontologists analyzed the 1.6-billion-year-old fossils, found in central India. They found that there were tiny globular cavities created by oxygen bubbles.

Stone form formed by bacterial membranes and air bubbles in it - (Photo: Stefan Bengtson).

There are very few traces of bacterial species that lived millions of years ago. Those traces are the structures of cyanobacteria , stone patterns formed by bacterial membranes and air bubbles in them. Bacteria that leave traces in the form of oxygen bubbles are the first life forms on Earth , making them suitable for the appearance of plants and animals.

Those cyanobacteria that live in shallow waters may have left those air bubbles. They produce oxygen by photosynthesis and sometimes "stuck" in the sticky membrane of the sticky bacteria in the form of bubbles. The membranes between some bubbles are twisted deformed, which makes the material contain resilient air bubbles.

Fossilized cyanobacteria membranes are stored in stromatolite strata, found at the bottom of shallow waters. Protozoan and multicellular algae may all have been involved in the formation of different fossilized cyanobacteria plaques.