This article talks about how scientists have found water trapped in rocks that is over a billion years old. These rocks were found 3 kilometers underground in an African gold mine. Also, water wasn't the only thing they found in the rocks. They also found small living organisms called microbes. These microscopic organisms are said to be similar to organisms living at the bottom of the oceans. The oldest thing that they found in the African gold mine was dissolved neon gas. By looking at the composition of the neon gas, scientists have said that it is 2-2.7 billion years old. This means that that neon gas has been on earth for half of the earths life, because the earth has only existed for 4.5 billion years.
The fact that they have found water, neon gas, and microbes 3 kilometers underground is really interesting. I think that these discoveries are really cool but not that helpful because there isn't much you can discover using what they found. The only thing that they should really do with what they found is study the microbes because they're actually alive. Who knows maybe these microbes are some of the earliest lifeforms to exist on earth as we know it.
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