美科学家研究发现火星存在生命（双语）(2)

    研究人员确信两组岩石中甚至还包含着“叠层石”成分，皮尔巴拉地区的叠层石便是由远古微生物形成的。 The researchers believe they could even contain ‘stromatolites’, as at Pilbara, which are formed by ancient microbes.

    该文章作者，艾德里安•布朗博士在接受BBC采访时说：“皮尔巴拉是一个神奇之地。作为地球的一部分，它屹立在那里已经有约35亿年的时间了，相当于地球四分之三的历史。” Dr Adrian Brown, the paper’s author, told BBC News: ‘The Pilbara is very cool. It's part of the Earth that has managed to stay at the surface for around 3.5 billion years - so about three quarters of the history of the Earth.’

   “它将使我们更好地洞悉地球早期所发生的一切。” ‘It allows us a little window into what was happening on the Earth at its very early stages.’

    目前，研究小组认为维护地球生命迹象的“热液”过程也曾在火星上的尼利•福萨岩石群中发生过。 Now the team believes that the same 'hydrothermal' processes that preserved these markers of life on Earth could have taken place on Mars at Nili Fossae.

    这些岩石在火星上已经快40多亿年了，这意味着它们见证了约四分之三的火星历史。 The rocks there are up to four billion years old, which means they have been around for three-quarters of the history of Mars.

    布朗博士解释道：“我们认为相关的热液活跃性曾为火星早期尼利•福萨岩石群生态活跃性提供了充足的能量。” Dr Brown explains: 'We suggest that the associated hydrothermal activity would have provided sufficient energy for biological activity on early Mars at Nili Fossae.