Dec 30, 2021 07:19 AM
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/worm-copr...scientists
EXCERPT: . . . Worms aren’t exactly known for craving silver. That the coprolites were this impeccably preserved after 500 million years is nearly unheard of in itself.
[...] That still didn’t demystify where the silver came from. There was not enough in the surrounding rock to have created the largest pieces of silver in the coprolites ... High levels of silver in water are also toxic and only survivable by a few life-forms. This is why Kimmig began digging elsewhere. He suspected that something else must have been involved here, and that something was even weirder.
It soon became apparent that the silver must have come from a colony of microbes that thrived on the feces after they were dropped and the worms wriggled back into their burrows. Some bacteria can extract silver from their surroundings without being poisoned... (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2021-0035
EXCERPT: . . . Worms aren’t exactly known for craving silver. That the coprolites were this impeccably preserved after 500 million years is nearly unheard of in itself.
[...] That still didn’t demystify where the silver came from. There was not enough in the surrounding rock to have created the largest pieces of silver in the coprolites ... High levels of silver in water are also toxic and only survivable by a few life-forms. This is why Kimmig began digging elsewhere. He suspected that something else must have been involved here, and that something was even weirder.
It soon became apparent that the silver must have come from a colony of microbes that thrived on the feces after they were dropped and the worms wriggled back into their burrows. Some bacteria can extract silver from their surroundings without being poisoned... (MORE - missing details)
PAPER: https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjes-2021-0035