Without a doubt, stromatolites are part of the memory of the Earth. These living fossils are the relict of beings that lived millions of years ago, clutching to the current landscape.
Their vitality is expressed throughout the changing seasons, shifting from orange during the summer towards grey during the winter. As all living beings, they shift to adapt to their environment.
Although the aesthetics of the landscape they inhabit resembles more of Mars, and a bit of the Moon, their resilience allows them to cohabitate among us, and those who will come after.
You can admire them at the Stromatolites Park of Porvenir, Tierra del Fuego.
Georeading
Plenty has been said about thrombolites and stromatolites. We know that they are colonies of cyanobacteria and microalgae, broadly present throughout every environment around the globe.
At least twelve different genders of these tiny wonders cohabitate at Laguna de los Cisnes, Porvenir, which adapted to survive in this hypersaline environment. We also know that stromatolites were the first photosynthetic organisms, those who filled our atmosphere with oxygen, making them the ancestors of all living beings.
The most evolved being is not the most complex, nor the one who has experienced the most genetic mutations, rather the one that manages to adapt and survive in every corner of the planet, throughout billions of years of extreme resilience.
These tiny beings require specific conditions of light exposure, which is why they thrive only at certain depths. They maintain their optimal depth thanks to a community effort: stromatolites live on the surface of thrombols, and when
sediments are deposited at the bottom of the lake, they are cemented with the calcium carbonate that algae provide with their metabolism. Thrombolites then grow layer by layer, managing to colonise the depths and the surface of these gigantic buildings, adapting to the changing water levels.