Colonization of land by microbial mats

"It is often assumed that Earth’s first terrestrial ecosystems were plant-dominated and that the colonization of land only occurred at the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon (550 Ma), which encompasses the first 80% of the history of life on our planet. Our new study published in Nature Geoscience focuses on the earliest fossil evidence for life on land in 3220 Ma old sedimentary rocks from South Africa." Below the photo is a link to Martin Homann's personal account of the story behind the scientific publication that deals with the fascinating beginning of terrestrial life on earth.