Belarus Reveals Discovery of 530 Million-Year-Old Bacteria Species from Ancient Era

Russian scientists from the Institute of Geology and Earth Sciences of the Precambrian era have discovered a new site of ancient microorganisms.

Which lived in the sea basin on the territory of modern Belarus 539-529 million years ago.

This was announced by Elena Golubkova, head of the laboratory of petrology and biostratigraphy of the Institute of Geology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

She said: “New organisms have been discovered that were not known before, and this is a hollow tube around which a thin cylindrical formation was wrapped in a spiral. This formation could flatten in the ground and acquire a ribbon-like shape.

Scientists have discovered a group of microorganisms inside the North Polotsk well, which was drilled in 2019 in northern Belarus. This well was necessary to study the history of the East European Platform (part of the earth’s crust), which includes the eastern lands of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries and the European part of Russia.

Scientists also found inside the well at a depth of 479-340 meters, in addition to a new type of microorganisms, the remains of cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, mushroom-like microorganisms, various microorganisms of unclear biological origin, as well as crawling traces of animals hiding.

The press service of the Institute of Geology confirmed that the new data obtained are of great scientific importance, and with their help it is possible to more accurately track the development of living organisms in the early stages of the formation of the Earth’s biosphere.

The results of the study are published in the Springer Journal of Paleontology.

Source: TASS