Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Gunflint microfossils
Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics
Images
Photomicrographs of 2,000,000,000-year-old organisms from the geological stratum called the Gunflint Chert. These organisms are about 10 microns across. Organisms more than 1,000,000,000 years older Photomicrographs of 2,000,000,000-year-old organisms from the geological stratum called the Gunflint Chert. These organisms are about 10 microns across. Organisms more than 1,000,000,000 years older Photomicrographs of 2,000,000,000-year-old organisms from the geological stratum called the Gunflint Chert. These organisms are about 10 microns across. Organisms more than 1,000,000,000 years older
Quick Facts
Britannica AI Icon
Adding us as a Preferred Source tells Google you trust our content, so our articles show up more often in your Google Search, Discover feed, and AI Overviews.
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

External Websites

Gunflint microfossils

paleontology
Written and fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Gunflint microfossils, assemblage of microscopic fossils uncovered in the Gunflint Iron Formation, a rock layer about two billion years old exposed in western Ontario, Canada. The fossils include filamentous structures resembling blue-green algae (e.g., Gunflintia, Entosphaeroides, and Animikiea), tiny spheroids (e.g., Eosphaera and Huroniospora), star-shaped forms assigned to the genus Eoastrion, and umbrella-shaped forms assigned to the genus Kakabekia. These and other fossils were first collected near Thunder Bay, Ont., in the 1950s. Analyses yield strong evidence that some of these fossils are the remains of some of the earliest photosynthetic organisms.