Ancient Organisms Found Alive in Salt Crystals

Scientists have discovered ancient bacteria in salt crystals, believed to have been trapped thousands of years ago.

FLUID INCLUSIONS: A highly magnified microscopic view of the inside of a salt crystal. The rectangular, square, and tubular shapes are droplets of water inside a crystal of salt, where the microbes are trapped. Michael Timofeeff

Scientists have found prokaryotes believed to have been alive when trapped in salt crystals 34,000 years ago, according to a study published this month in The Geological Society of America’s open-access journal GSA Today.

“Microbes are known to exist in subsurface habitats, such as sub-seafloor sediments and continental and oceanic crust, to depths of up to 3 km,” the paper reads.

“Prokaryotes (single-celled organisms lacking a nucleus and other membrane-bound specialized structures) in these subsurface environments live in water within sediment pores and rock fractures.”

Organisms have also been found in glaciers up to 8 million years old, according to the paper.

“Collectively, these discoveries have extended the realm of the biosphere into Earth’s crust and have given hope for finding life beneath the surface of other planets, moons, asteroids, and comets of our solar system where present surface conditions are inhospitable,” the paper reads.