14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new scientific research published last week online in the journal Geology, it could be that meteorite impacts which hammered the early Earth also provided basic organisms with a new type of habitat that fostered their development. The research team found evidences of microbes in impact glass, a type of rock produced following space rock impacts.
This material, which is relatively similar to obsidian, is a dark rock produced by the extreme heat of meteorite impacts. Scientists with the research group analyze samples of impact glass from the Ries Crater in Germany, paying close attention to numerous structures and crystals embedded within.
For many years, geologists have assumed that the materials trapped in impact glass were simply crystals or other inorganic compounds, but the new study proposes that these features have more in common with biological entities such as microbes than inanimate structures. The tubules the team observed appeared to avoid touching each other, something characteristic of microbe drilling behaviors.
The same tubules found in the Reis impact crater also appear to be similar to fossil traces of microbes found in obsidian, which is a type of impact glass that is not produced by meteorites, but by volcanism. These results appear to point to a scenario where meteorite impact basins represented a good environment for basic lifeforms to develop and thrive, Science Mag reports.