She was taken from a depth of 400 meters
A previously unknown microorganism that lived on Earth 539-529 million years ago, shaped like a screw, was discovered by Russian scientists in Belarus. The new genus and species of microfossil (fossil) was named Tubula tortusa.
Elena Golubkova. Photo: IGGD RAS
As MK was told at the Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the find was made as a result of studying the section of the North Polotsk well. It was drilled in northern Belarus in 2019 to study the history of the East European Platform, which includes the eastern territories of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the countries of the Baltic region and the European part of Russia.
Core study in the North Polotsk well area. Photo: IGGD RAS
A previously unknown creature was brought to the surface along with a geological rock lying at a depth of 479-340 meters. It was found among cyanobacteria, algae, fungi, fragments of organisms of animal origin.
– Tubula tortusa is a hollow tube around which a thin cylindrical formation is wound in a spiral. In the process of burial, this structure could flatten, acquiring a shape close to a ribbon, says Elena Golubkova, head of the laboratory of lithology and biostratigraphy of the IGGD RAS.
Tubula tortusa. Photo: IGGD RAS
The resulting material will help scientists compiling the geological «chronicle» to better describe the development of life on Earth from the Precambrian to the Holocene.