Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New Evidence of the Antiquity of Life

@article{Schopf1993MicrofossilsOT,
  title={Microfossils of the Early Archean Apex Chert: New Evidence of the Antiquity of Life},
  author={J. William Schopf},
  journal={Science},
  year={1993},
  volume={260},
  pages={640 - 646}
}
  • J. Schopf
  • Published 30 April 1993
  • Environmental Science
  • Science
Eleven taxa (including eight heretofore undescribed species) of cellularly preserved filamentous microbes, among the oldest fossils known, have been discovered in a bedded chert unit of the Early Archean Apex Basalt of northwestern Western Australia. This prokaryotic assemblage establishes that trichomic cyanobacterium-like microorganisms were extant and morphologically diverse at least as early as ∼3465 million years ago and suggests that oxygen-producing photoautotrophy may have already… 
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