Early life thrived in lava flows
By Paul Rincon

Geologists have discovered microscopic burrows where some of Earth's
earliest lifeforms bored their way into volcanic glass 3.5 billion years
ago.
The tubes, from rocks in South Africa's Barberton Greenstone Belt, retain
traces of organic carbon left behind by the microorganisms, the authors say.

The microbes etched their way into rocks that formed as lava oozed out
across a sea floor in Archaean times.

An international team published details of the work in the journal Science.

Harald Furnes, of the University of Bergen, Norway, and his colleagues found
tubular structures in the glassy rind on so-called pillow lavas.

Researchers have previously identified similar structures called
microtubules in present-day pillow lavas, where they were interpreted as the
trails left by rock-munching microorganisms.

Modern examples have been shown to contain nucleic acids and increased
traces of carbon and nitrogen, the key elements of life.

The team found ancient microtubules in the Barberton rock which are on
average about four micrometres in width and 50 micrometres in length (a
micrometre is a millionth of a metre).

In the inner walls of these microtubules, the geologists found traces of
carbon, which the authors claim is organic.

Read the rest at BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3648283.stm

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