The Bitter Springs Chert FormationThe Bitter Springs chert formation is located at the North East of
The Bitter Springs Chert FormationThe Bitter Springs chert formation is located at the North East of the Amadeus Basin in Central Australia. This formation is made up of dark limestones and finely laminated layers of black chert (a fine-grained sedimentary rock). This chert is known as chalcedonic (fibrous translucent white/grey quartz).This particular formation is of special interest as despite the fact its 850 million years old it contains very well preserved Proterozoic (2500 to 542 million years ago) fossils. These fossils include 30 species of microfossil (<4mm), including cyanobacteria (bacteria that gain energy through photosynthesis), fungi and dinoflagellates (single celled micro-organism with no skeleton and largely photosynthetic). These are so well preserved that in a thin section under a microscope 3D morphology can be seen. Due to this fact it can be seen that cyanobacteria have always been morphologically similar to how they appear today. The formation also shows stromatolites (as seen in the picture, layered structures made up of sedimentary grains which are trapped by sticky mucous layers secreted by cyanobacteria) and proves they are the product of cyanobacteria.This formation also contains evidence of early eukaryote (cells containing a nucleus and organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplast) cell fossils. These cells have preserved some structures inside them such as their nuclei (contained the cell’s genetic material when it was alive).~SAPicture: http://bit.ly/1PuUmg8by DaderotPaper: http://bit.ly/1EUZYObby J. William SchopfFurther reading: http://bit.ly/1PuUc8C -- source link
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