LifeSprings MARS

The Pilbara region of Western Australia preserves a 3.5-billion-year-old hot spring field, that appears to have been similar to modern-day Rotorua, New Zealand, and to the Chilean hot spring fields. Within and adjacent to the ancient hot spring deposits are found stromatolite fossils – wrinkly layers and domal, columnar, or coniform build-ups – constructed by microbial communities. The stromatolite fossils in the Pilbara are the oldest convincing evidence of life on Earth and support the idea of searching for similarly ancient life on Mars in hot spring deposits.