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Science 6 September 1968:
Vol. 161. no. 3845, pp. 1005 - 1008
DOI: 10.1126/science.161.3845.1005
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Articles

Alga-Like Forms in Onverwacht Series, South Africa: Oldest Recognized Lifelike Forms on Earth

Albert E. J. Engel 1, Bartholomew Nagy 1, Lois Anne Nagy 1, Celeste G. Engel 2, Gerhard O. W. Kremp 3, and Charles M. Drew 4

1 University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92037
2 U.S. Geological Survey, La Jolla, California 92037
3 University of Arizona, Tucson
4 Naval Weapons Center, China Lake, California 93555

Spheroidal and cupshaped, carbonaceous alga-like bodies, as well as filamentous structures and amorphous carbonaceous matter occur in sedimentary rocks of the Onverwacht Series (Swaziland System) in South Africa. The Onverwacht sediments are older than 3.2 eons, and they are probably the oldest, littlealtered sedimentary rocks on Earth. The basal Onverwacht sediments lie approximately 10,000 meters stratigraphically below the Fig Tree sedimentary rocks, from which similar organic microstructures have been interpreted as alga-like microfossils. The Onverwacht spheroids and filaments are best preserved in black, carbonrich cherts and siliceous argillites interlayered with thick sequences of lavas. These lifelike forms and the associated carbonaceous substances are probably biological in origin. If so, the origins of unicellular life on Earth are buried in older rocks now obliterated by igneous and metamorphic events.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)