Science News from research organizations Scientists stunned to find signs of ancient life in a place no one expected A surprising discovery in Morocco suggests deep-sea microbes were leaving their wrinkled fingerprints in the ocean’s darkness 180 million years ago. Date: March 8, 2026 Source: Geological Society of America Summary: While exploring ancient seabeds in Morocco, scientists discovered strange wrinkle-like textures in deep-water sediments that shouldn’t have been there. These structures are usually made by sunlight-loving microbial mats in shallow waters. But the rocks formed far below the reach of light, suggesting a different explanation. Evidence points to chemosynthetic microbes—organisms powered by chemical reactions—creating the mats in the dark depths of an ancient ocean. Share: Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email FULL STORY Scientists trekking through Morocco’s mountains discovered mysterious wrinkle patterns in ancient deep-sea sediments where they shouldn’t exist. The structures likely formed from chemosynthetic microbial mats living in total darkness, revealing a hidden ecosystem in the ancient ocean. Credit: Shutterstock Dr. Rowan Martindale, a paleoecologist and geobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin, was hiking through the Dadès Valley in Morocco's Central High Atlas Mountains when something unusual caught her attention and made her stop. Martindale and her research team, including Stéphane Bodin of Aarhus University, were exploring the rugged valley to study the ecology of ancient reef systems that once existed there when the area lay beneath the ocean. Reaching those reefs required crossing numerous layers of turbidites, sediments formed by dense underwater debris flows. Ripple patterns often appear on these deposits. However, Martindale noticed small ridges and wrinkles layered on top of the ripples that seemed unusual. "As we're walking up these turbidites, I'm looking around and this beautifully rippled bedding plane caught my eye," says Martindale. "I said, 'Stéphane, you need to get back here. These are wrinkle structures!'" What Are Wrinkle Structures Wrinkle structures are tiny ridges and pits ranging from millimeters to centimeters across. They develop when algae and microbial communities grow in mats across sandy seafloors. These delicate textures are rarely preserved in younger rocks because animals often disturb and destroy them. As a result, wrinkle structures are uncommon in rocks younger than about 540 million years old, when animal life rapidly diversified and began actively stirring ocean sediments. Today, scientists typically find wrinkle structures in shallow tidal environments where sunlight supports photosynthetic algae. Why These Wrinkles Should Not Exist The wrinkle structures Martindale spotted appeared in rocks that formed far below the ocean surface. The turbidites where they were found had been deposited at depths of at least 180 meters, far too deep for sunlight to penetrate. This meant the structures could not have formed from the same sunlight dependent algae that create wrinkle patterns in shallow environments today. Previous claims of wrinkle structures in deep water turbidite deposits have also been disputed. Another complication was the age of the rocks. At about 180 million years old, they formed during a time when animals were actively disturbing the seafloor worldwide, which normally erases delicate microbial textures. In other words, the wrinkle structures Martindale saw should not have been preserved at all. Recognizing how unusual the find was, she set out to confirm whether her first impression was correct. "Let's go through every single piece of evidence that we can find to be sure that these are wrinkle structures in turbidites," says Martindale, because wrinkle structures, usually photosynthetic in origin, "shouldn't be in this deep-water setting." Evidence of Chemosynthetic Microbial Life The research team carefully examined the surrounding rock layers and confirmed that the sediments were indeed turbidites. Next they investigated whether the unusual textures truly formed from biological activity. Chemical testing provided a key clue. The sediment just beneath the wrinkles contained elevated carbon levels, which often indicate a biological origin. The team also looked to modern ocean environments for comparison. Footage from remotely operated submersibles exploring seafloors far below the photic zone revealed that microbial mats can develop there as well, but they are produced by chemosynthetic bacteria. These microbes obtain energy from chemical reactions instead of sunlight. How Deep Sea Microbes Created the Wrinkles By combining geological observations, chemical evidence, and modern examples from the deep ocean, the scientists concluded that they had discovered chemosynthetic wrinkle structures preserved in the rock record. Turbidite flows likely played a cri