Click here for a PDF with the results of research funded by the NASA Exobiology Program—the discovery of an ancient (1.6 billion year old) ecosystem and evidence that modern ocean conditions arose recently in geologic time.

 

oil
The oldest known live oil seeping out of a dolomitic mudstone of the 1.64 Ga Barney Creek Formation (drill core McA20; ~375 meters depth). Photo courtesy of J. J. Brocks.