This is a piece of a living stromatolite, that I've just chopped.

这是一块活叠层石，我刚刚把它切碎。

Now, what probably looks like a bunch of wrinkly old rocks are actually stromatolites.

现在，可能看一堆皱巴巴古老岩石实际上是叠层石。

And their fossils are often preserved as layered rock structures, called stromatolites.

它们化石通常保存为层岩石结构，称为叠层石。

The wavy shapes and textures of certain layers looked similar to other stromatolites.

某些层波浪形和纹理看与其他叠层石相似。

These limestone-like carbonates are known on Earth to preserve stromatolites, mounds formed by bacterial growth.

这些类似石灰石碳酸盐在地球上以保存叠层石而闻名，叠层石是由细菌生长形成。

In 2016, researchers found signs of some really old fossils called stromatolites, which are sediment layers made by bacterial mats.

2016 年，研究人员发现了一些名为叠层石古老化石迹象，这些化石是由细菌垫形成沉积层。

The fossils are called stromatolites, and they’re made up of layers of sediment formed by growing mats of bacteria.

这些化石被称为叠层石，它们由生长细菌垫形成沉积物层组成。

And billions of years ago, these stromatolites, ancient communities of photosynthetic bacteria that are equal parts biology and geology, may have exhaled the first breaths of life-giving oxygen.

数十亿年前这些叠层石，古老光合细菌群落，它们在生物学和地质学中是一样部分，可能已经呼出了第一口提供生命氧气。

The shape and texture of certain layers in the rocks, plus their chemical composition, are clues that there are stromatolites made by microbes inside the rocks.

岩石中某些层形和质地，加上它们化学成分， 是岩石内部存在由微生物形成叠层石线索。

These calcareous structures — the result of what was a brand-new process, using solar radiation as a source of energy — are stromatolites, constructed by complex microbial communities, in particular cyanobacteria.

这些钙质结构是叠层石，由复杂微生物群落构成，特别是蓝藻细菌。这是一个全新过程，利用太阳辐射作为能量源。

Layers of sediment can also just build up over time, but the shape and chemical signatures in a stromatolite can reveal if it was formed by microbes.

随着时间推移， 沉积物层也会不断堆积，但叠层石形和化学特征可以揭示它是否是由微生物形成。

In a paper published this week, Australian researchers found signs of stromatolites in 3.7 billion year old rocks in Greenland – some of the oldest rocks anywhere on Earth.

在本周发表一篇论文中，澳大利亚研究人员在格陵兰岛 37 亿年前岩石中发现了叠层石迹象， 这些岩石是地球上任何地方最古老岩石之一。