Scientists have found 34,000-year-old bacteria trapped inside tiny bubbles of salt crystals that could be the oldest living organisms on Earth, according to a report in the latest edition of GSA Today.
The salt crystals containing the bacteria were found buried in the Death Valley of California. “It was actually a very big surprise to me,” the Christian Science Monitor quoted Brian Schubert, who discovered the ancient bacteria living within tiny fluid-filled chambers, as saying. Salt crystals grow very quickly, imprisoning whatever happens to be floating — or living — nearby inside tiny bubbles just a few microns across, akin to naturally made, miniature snow-globes.
“It’s permanently sealed inside the salt, like little time capsules,” said Tim Lowenstein, a professor in the geology department at Binghamton University and Schubert’s advisor at the time.
Lowenstein said new research indicates this process occurs in modern saline lakes, further backing up Schubert’s astounding discovery, which was first revealed about a year ago.