Saturday, March 16, 2013

Shark Bay, Australia


Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve is located in the Shark Bay World Heritage Site in Western Australia. It is one of the very few places in the world where living stromatolites can be found. These are the first living examples of structures built by cyanobacteria. These bacteria are direct descendants of the oldest form of photosynthetic life on earth, dating back 3,500 million years (Wikipedia). The image was acquired December 30, 2010, covers an area of 34 x 46 km, and is located at 26.4 degrees south latitude, 114.1 degrees east longitude.

Photo credit: NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team

No comments:

Post a Comment