They were a species of underwater trees, before there were terrestrial trees.
When this process is repeated several times, one layer after another is formed, until the classic mushroom form of the stromatolite comes out of the water. Nutman, A. P., Bennett, V. C., Friend, C. R. L., Van Kranendonk, M. J., & Chivas, A. R. (2016). Stromatolites can also be seen in the Red Sea on the western coast of Australia, in Lake Salgada in Rio de Janeiro, in the salt flats of northern Chile, and in San Juan de Marcona in Peru. This efficiency in the adaptive mechanisms that have allowed them to survive since they originated, some 3500 million years ago, gives them the property of maintaining their evolutionary lineage since their appearance. (eds) Early Organic Evolution. When the waters of the oceans were saturated oxygen was released in the air, and when the levels of this element rose to around 20% in the air, the life of many different organisms managed to flourish and evolve. Instead, the underlying layers are the accumulation of marine sediments mixed with substances secreted by bacteria, and minerals. The mechanism by which stromatolites develop - their ability to leave layers (or strata) as they grow - results in a kind of rocky record. This causes a series of metabolic reactions that promote the formation of calcium carbonate, which precipitates and solidifies, thus forming"rocky"structures. It also participates in climate processes, such as the greenhouse effect. These rock structures so distinctive of the stromatolites originated by several processes carried out by the cyanobacteria, among them photosynthesis. Because the microorganisms that form the stromatolites recycle the elements in the natural environment, they absorb and produce molecules that are part of the biogeochemical cycles. However, the tiny microbes that make up modern stromatolites are similar to those that existed 3,500 million years ago. In some areas of the lagoon the damage is already reflected. Stromatolites are formed by primitive one-celled cyanobacteria, which are also known as blue-green algae. Stromatolites grow only in certain parts of the world. This is the main compound precipitated by the cyanobacteria of stromatolites. Allwood, A.C., Grotzinger, J.P., Knoll, A.H., Burch, I.W., Anderson, M.S., Coleman, M.L., & Kanik, I. This promoted the creation of a committee among the municipal governments involved, where a series of agreements was reached in order to preserve these organisms because of their great importance as the first evidence of life on Earth. The stromatolites they are microbial reefs formed by the activity of cyanobacteria (or blue-green algae), which are bacteria capable of photosynthesis. Live bacteria are found in the surface layer of a stromatolite. Stromatolites are formed through the trapping of sediments and the precipitation of calcium carbonate in response to the growth and metabolic activities of matlike cyanobacteria colonies. Microbially influenced formation of 2,724-million-year-old stromatolites. Specialists from the Autonomous University of Mexico presented a study to the authorities where the deterioration suffered by stromatolites in the Laguna de los siete colores is exposed. This process is favored because the cyanobacteria produce some sticky substances that help capture calcium carbonate and other minerals. Controls on development and diversity of Early Archean stromatolites. Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures. Riding, R. (2007). These minerals form a crust over the cyanobacteria, which continue to grow around and through the crunchy layer. This pattern of growth generates a kind of fossil record. Stromatolites have been essential for the generation of the life of organisms that emerged later in evolutionary time, including human beings (species: Homo sapiens). This record can be observed at a glance in some cases, and in others with the help of a microscope. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.