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Letter

Nature Geoscience 1, 118–121 (1 February 2008) | doi:10.1038/ngeo107

Microbially influenced formation of 2,724-million-year-old stromatolites

Kevin Lepot , Karim Benzerara , Gordon E. Brown & Pascal Philippot

Laminated accretionary carbonate structures known as stromatolites are a prominent feature of the sedimentary record over the past 3,500|[thinsp]|Myr (ref.|[nbsp]|1). The macroscopic similarity to modern microbial structures has led to the inference that these structures represent evidence of ancient life.