Underwater Structures Reveal How Life Began

Scientists believe they’ve found a window into the dawn of time on Earth, and it’s hidden beneath the Pacific Ocean.

A team led by geophysicist Simon Lamb, of the University of Wellington and scientist Cornel de Ronde, of GNS Science, said the key to our past lies in a remote corner of South Africa and way down on the seafloor off the coast of New Zealand.

So what do these two sites, on opposite sides of the world, have in common?

Writing for The Conversation, the scientists explained that their work began after de Ronde created a new, detailed geological map of an area known as the Barberton Greenstone Belt, which lies in South Africa’s highveld region.

“The geological formations in this region have proved difficult to decipher, despite many attempts,” the pair write.     READ MORE...