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"It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen or, really, like anything any scientist has ever seen."
In the profoundly remote Argentina desert, at over 12,000 feet high, and in a place where no roads go, scientists found an exotic world new to science.
Among white salt plains atop the Puna de Atacama plateau, there's a system of greenish lagoons harboring vast bacterial communities, called stromatolites, that create layered mounds as they expand. The unique ecosystem might be a glimpse into Earth, billions of years ago, when primitive organisms first appeared on our planet.
"This lagoon could be one of the best modern examples of the earliest signs of life on Earth," geologist Brian Hynek, one of the scientists who found this elusive ecosystem, said in a statement. "It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen or, really, like anything any scientist has ever seen."
"It’s just amazing that you can still find undocumented things like that on our planet," Hynek, a professor at CU Boulder, marveled.
Scientists discover unknown prehistoric world — on Earth
"It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen or, really, like anything any scientist has ever seen."
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