When the World Turned Green: Age of Plant Photosynthesis Revealed
By Laura Geggel, Senior Writer | December 27, 2017 11:55am ET
Ancient rocks from a remote Canada island contain the oldest algae ever discovered.
The samples, found on Canada's Baffin Island, also reveal roughly when plants had the components necessary for photosynthesis, a new study finds.
The finding reveals that Bangiomorpha pubescens, the oldest known algae on Earth, is more than 1 billion years old. Working backward, the researchers figured out that algae could likely harvest the sun's energy through photosynthesis about 1.25 billion years ago. [Photo Timeline: How the Earth Formed]
https://www.livescience.com/61280-plant-photosynthesis-began-billion-years-ago.html
