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Precambrian The Period Of Geologic Term Paper

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This is indirect evidence of photosynthetic organisms." (Armstrong Chapter 2, pp. 6). Thus, photosynthetic organisms have been evidenced to have existed well into the Precambrian. Another source of data concerning life in the Precambrian comes from ancient stromatolites. Today, stromatolites can still be found in a handful of locations, and build upon each other by catching tiny particles of sediment. "Ancient stromatolites, dated to 3.5 gya, are constructed identically. Stromatolites, as unique geological structures formed by the actions of living organisms, are indirect evidence of ancient microbial communities dominated presumably by green photosynthetic organisms." (Armstrong Chapter 2, pp. 7). Together, these three portions of scientific information have generated a rough picture of life in the Precambrian.

Still more recent lines of reasoning continue to reveal information about life from this geologic period. The fossils, carbon dating, and stromatolite...

Some scientists are attempting to configure pictures of the period by analyzing inherited traits, specifically concerning metabolic mechanisms working within ancient prokaryotes. "By examining the branching patterns of common ancestries for components of metabolic machinery, the development of more complex metabolisms like photosynthesis can be inferred." (Armstrong Chapter 2, pp. 8).
The discovery of a number of microorganisms termed "extremophiles" has also indicated what the direction of evolutionary history may have been during the Precambrian. These extremophiles have brought some biologists to suggest that life may have been able to survive portions of the period of intense bombardment, and accordingly, would make them the ancestors of all other organisms evident in the Precambrian. Clearly, there exist a number of sources for information to indicate the unique ecology that made up the…

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