Leaving magnets for 50 thousand years- Scientists have discovered huge magneto-fossils buried in 50 thousand years old sediments in the Bay of Bengal. Magneto-fossils are magnetic crystals left by microorganisms. The magneto-fossils that scientists have found are the youngest fossils ever found.A study published in Nature.com states that magneto-fossils are produced by magneto-tactic bacteria. While living inside water, those bacteria make crystals of magnetite or greigite, whose size is as much as one nanometre, to adapt themselves to the conditions there. They survive even after the death of microorganisms.
Information about magnetic signal
According to the report, these fossils can provide information about the magnetic signature of the sediment. It can also be told what kind of changes have taken place in the environment there in thousands of years. Scientists from CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Goa played an important role in this discovery. They discovered a 3 meter long sediment core in the Bay of Bengal, which contained sediments from the Godavari, Krishna and Pennar rivers. It is mainly made up of silty soil.
Magneto-fossils discovered
When scientists analysed the samples with a microscope, they came to know about magneto-fossils. They are said to be present in sediment cores spanning the last 42,700 years. Researchers believe that when reactive iron and organic carbon carried by rivers entered the oxygen-poor Bay of Bengal, it helped organisms producing magneto-fossils to flourish.Iron and organic carbon were the main sources of food for those organisms. Researchers say that as long as these environmental conditions persist, the organisms that produce magneto-fossils will continue to flourish.