back to article 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 …

  1. cd

    Is using trillion verboten for some reason?

    1. 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.

      1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

        Gyr, GA or variations work well, though.

      2. 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).

    2. gizmo17

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

    3. Agent Tick

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

  2. 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 ...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Alarmist scam

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

    2. 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 !

      1. Scroticus Canis
        Facepalm

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

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

  3. Little Mouse

    Missing information

    Are they truly fossilized, or just dormant?

    And how long and sharp are their teeth and claws?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    6000 years

    Read the Bible. It's all in there.

    1. Mark 85
      Devil

      Re: 6000 years

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

      1. Blofeld's Cat
        Angel

        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 ..."

      2. Trainee grumpy old ****
        Trollface

        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.

  5. Ru'
    Flame

    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.

    1. P. Lee
      Trollface

      >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?

  6. 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.

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