Stromatolite Trio

Stromatolites are the oldest fossils on Earth, bearing witness to the emergence and evolution of life on our planet. Formed predominantly from cyanobacteria, their name derives from the Greek word στρῶμα (strôma), meaning mattress or layer, due to the fact that they are formed by strata of unicellular organisms living in colonies. Their distinctive layers are the product of calcium carbonate sediment, through which the colony of cyanobacteria continuously emerges. The fossil record for stromatolites is unbelievably vast, spanning nearly four billion years of geological history, found alongside organisms living in every imaginable environment.