Atacama Desert: Where ancient life reveals the secrets of our planet’s beginnings

In one of the driest places on Earth, ancient rock-like formations are telling scientists an extraordinary story about how life may have begun on our planet and where we might find it elsewhere in the universe. There are stretches of land so dry that some weather stations have recorded no measurable rainfall for years.

Yet, unbelievingly, they have become a source of study for scientists that have been exploring the question of ‘how did life begin?’The Atacama Desert in northern Chile is widely recognised as the driest non-polar desert on the planet. Its extraordinary dryness, intense solar radiation, high levels of ultraviolet exposure and mineral-rich terrain make it a case study for how life can exist in extreme conditions.

Layered structures built by microscopic organisms over long periods, called stromatolites, are the most fascinating evidence of life.