Scientists Find 180-Million-Year-Old Microbial Life in 180-Meter-Deep Seafloor Rocks
Updated
Updated · The News International · Jun 27
Scientists Find 180-Million-Year-Old Microbial Life in 180-Meter-Deep Seafloor Rocks
3 articles · Updated · The News International · Jun 27
Summary
180-million-year-old rocks in Morocco’s Dadès Valley preserve wrinkle marks in turbidites laid down at least 180 meters underwater, pointing to microbial life where sunlight could not reach.
Carbon enrichment beneath the folds gave researchers the chemical evidence they needed to argue the structures were made by chemosynthetic bacteria rather than the photosynthetic microbes usually tied to such textures.
The team says turbidite flows delivered nutrients to the seafloor, and the microbes survived as decomposition lowered oxygen levels in the deep-ocean environment.
That combination challenges the long-held view that wrinkle structures mark only shallow, sunlit settings and suggests ancient deep-sea microbial ecosystems were more widespread than assumed.
How many signs of ancient life have geologists overlooked, thinking they were simply strange rocks?
If life thrived in Earth's dark oceans, what does this mean for finding aliens on sunless worlds?
180-Million-Year-Old Fossil Microbial Mats Found in Deep Sea: New Evidence for Ancient Chemosynthetic Life
Overview
In early 2026, Dr. Rowan Martindale's team made a surprising discovery in Morocco’s Dadès Valley, uncovering 180-million-year-old wrinkle structures in deep-sea rocks. These were identified as fossilized microbial mats from chemosynthetic communities that once thrived in the Jurassic ocean. The finding, published in Geology, challenged long-held beliefs about ancient deep-sea environments, as no one expected such life forms in this setting. The discovery was not planned, but resulted from the team’s careful observation and persistent research, opening new possibilities for understanding the diversity and history of life in Earth’s ancient oceans.