The ripple marks in the first plane are geological features forming now in the desert by the action of wind over sand. The actual sediments derived from old sedimentary rocks that forms the landscape. In the background, geologists are looking for features in the rocks that can help decipher the environmental conditions in which life on Earth evolved from microbes to multicellular organisms. This happened around 540 million years ago, when this area was still an ocean. The hammer serves as a scale and is the iconic tool used by field geologists to collect samples for further analysis.
Submission Year:
2017-18
Photographer's affiliation:
Graduate student
Academic areas:
Arts and Science
Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs
Art of Research categories:
Out in the field
Photo:
![Searching for early life Searching for early life](https://www.queensu.ca/research/sites/all/modules/contrib/lazyloader/image_placeholder.gif)
Categories:
PhD student/candidate
Faculty of Arts and Science
Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering
School of Graduate Studies
Ecology, Biodiversity and the Natural Environment
Sustainability, Environment and Resources
Location of photograph:
Duqm, Sultanate of Oman
Photographer's name:
Leandro DaSilva
Display Photographers Affiltion + Faculty or Department:
PhD Student, Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering