The oldest rocks on Earth have been discovered recently. They indeed look very fascinating. The image has been all over social media platforms. They were successfully found in the Pilbara, specifically in northwestern Australia.
Something that is surprising to know, the oldest rocks were formed over 3.6 billion years old ago. As stated on the NASA website, the rocks formed way before there is any existence of life. Not even any atmospheric oxygen. So great.
Picture: NASA
Could be discovered, 3.45 billion-year-old fossil stromatolites. Other than that, colonies of microbial cyanobacteria. For those who might not know, this image has been able to be looked at just by using ASTER. That is also known as Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer. One of the most used observation instruments.
NASA also has stated, “The broad spectral coverage and high spectral resolution of ASTER provides scientists in numerous disciplines with critical information for surface mapping and monitoring of dynamic conditions and temporal change”. Some examples that NASA used it for are identifying crop stress, wetlands evaluation, and others.
Such a very fascinating discovery that NASA has to behold lately. Hopefully, there would be more others to witness in the future. They can absolutely help to increase more knowledge that people would love to know nowadays.
