Australian geoboffin discovers 3.7 billion year old fossils after ice melts

The world’s oldest fossils have been discovered in Greenland after a layer of snow on ancient rocks melted, revealing stromatolites embedded in the Isua supracrustal belt. The stromatolites are estimated to be around 3,700 million years old, pre-dating the previous record by 220 million years. A research paper published today …

[cd]

Is using trillion verboten for some reason?

[Eddy Ito]

No, it just means different things to different people. In the US (short scale) trillion = 10¹² where in the UK (long scale) trillion = 10¹⁸.

That said, you were looking for billion not trillion.

[Brewster's Angle Grinder]

Gyr, GA or variations work well, though.

[Danny 4]

gillion

Or, for us Brits gillion is also 10^9.

(Not one I've heard used but should El Reg reintroduce it to avoid this confusion?)

Source: Chambers English Dictionary (1990).

[gizmo17]

Google "long and short scales" for one possible reason.

[Agent Tick]

The English Billion is in German Milliarden hence nothing to do with Trillion

[Thought About IT]

Alarmist scam

Far be it for me to suggest that the climate's changing, but something must have caused that ice to melt after all this time. I suppose increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is too obvious ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Alarmist scam

The ice wasn't 3.7 billion years old, the rocks it was covering are.

[John 104]

Re: Alarmist scam

obviously these small organisms that left these deposits are the true culprits of climate change. They were taking oxygen from the air !

[Scroticus Canis]

Re: They were taking oxygen from the air ! - Actually the opposite

Stromatolites are responsible for producing the first free atmospheric oxygen - by photosynthesis.

[Little Mouse]

Missing information

Are they truly fossilized, or just dormant?

And how long and sharp are their teeth and claws?

[Anonymous Coward]

6000 years

Read the Bible. It's all in there.

[Mark 85]

Re: 6000 years

I don't recall stromatolites being mentioned... did I miss those verses?

[Blofeld's Cat]

Re: 6000 years

"I don't recall stromatolites being mentioned... did I miss those verses?"

I believe they got omitted at one of the early editorial meetings, but will probably get reinstated in the "Director's Cut"...

"OK lads we need to get this wrapped up - is it the "stromatolites" or the "Song of Solomon"? For what it's worth I like the pomegranates metaphor ..."

[Trainee grumpy old ****]

Re: 6000 years

> I don't recall stromatolites being mentioned... did I miss those verses?

They mustn't have got a place on the ark - just like the dinosaurs.

[Ru']

Thank (diety) for (man-made/natural/magic/alien) climate change. Extending our knowledge of the earth's past with every extra fraction of a degree.

[P. Lee]

>Thank (diety) for (man-made/natural/magic/alien) climate change. Extending our knowledge of the earth's past with every extra fraction of a degree.

And how much fossil-fuel were the stromatolites burning to heat the earth to the point where the Greenland glaciers had melted and the rocks were exposed?

[Comedy of Errors]

Still going

It's impressive the oldest ever fossils ever found are for a species still alive today. Thought once to be long extinct they can still be found in a few locations including Shark Bay in Australia - well worth a look if you are passing.