2229 Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia
The stromatolites of the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, at Shark Bay, Western Australia.
The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is a protected marine nature reserve located in the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Shark Bay in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The 127,000-hectare (310,000-acre) nature reserve boasts the most diverse and abundant examples of living marine stromatolites, or 'living fossils', in the world, monuments to life on Earth over 3,500 million years BP. It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found. The cyanobacteria living in Hamelin Pool are direct descendants of the oldest form of photosynthetic life on earth. The stromatolites are similar to 3,500 million year old stromatolite fossils found in many places around the world. Stromatolites are an example of the earliest record of life on earth. Hamelin Pool is hypersaline (it has approximately double the salinity of normal seawater), providing an ideal environment for the Stromatolites to grow, and inhibiting other marine life which would normally feed on the bacteria. The cyanobacteria live in communities on the sea bed at densities of 3000 million individuals per square metre. They are the simplest life forms to use photosynthesis to provide food and oxygen. They provided the early Earth with most of its oxygen atmosphere billions of years before plants appeared. Very fine particles of solids i.e. sand, crushed shell etc. are trapped by the sticky bacteria, to become cemented with calcium carbonate produced by the bacteria, thereby building up the stromatolite structures. Some structures are pillars up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) high and have taken thousands of years to grow.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamelin_Pool_Marine_Nature_Reserve
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite
2229 Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia
The stromatolites of the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, at Shark Bay, Western Australia.
The Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is a protected marine nature reserve located in the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Shark Bay in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The 127,000-hectare (310,000-acre) nature reserve boasts the most diverse and abundant examples of living marine stromatolites, or 'living fossils', in the world, monuments to life on Earth over 3,500 million years BP. It is one of only a few places in the world where living marine stromatolites can be found. The cyanobacteria living in Hamelin Pool are direct descendants of the oldest form of photosynthetic life on earth. The stromatolites are similar to 3,500 million year old stromatolite fossils found in many places around the world. Stromatolites are an example of the earliest record of life on earth. Hamelin Pool is hypersaline (it has approximately double the salinity of normal seawater), providing an ideal environment for the Stromatolites to grow, and inhibiting other marine life which would normally feed on the bacteria. The cyanobacteria live in communities on the sea bed at densities of 3000 million individuals per square metre. They are the simplest life forms to use photosynthesis to provide food and oxygen. They provided the early Earth with most of its oxygen atmosphere billions of years before plants appeared. Very fine particles of solids i.e. sand, crushed shell etc. are trapped by the sticky bacteria, to become cemented with calcium carbonate produced by the bacteria, thereby building up the stromatolite structures. Some structures are pillars up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) high and have taken thousands of years to grow.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamelin_Pool_Marine_Nature_Reserve
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite