The earliest known life forms may be putative fossilized microorganisms, found in white smoker hydrothermal vent precipitates. They may have lived as early as 4.28 Gya (billion years ago), relatively soon after the formation of the oceans 4.41 Gya, not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 Gya.[78]

Life started fast

Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago, and evidence of life appears by 3.8 billion years ago. On the timescale of Earth's history, that means life seems to have arrived surprisingly quickly.

Abiogenesis: How Life May Have Begun

Stromatolites are left behind by cyanobacteria, known as blue-green algae. They are among the oldest fossils of life on Earth. This one-billion-year-old fossil is from Glacier National Park in the United States.

But it was not one magic moment

Abiogenesis is the idea that life emerged from non-living matter through rising complexity. Scientists picture many steps: organic molecules, self-replication, self-assembly, autocatalysis, and eventually membranes.

Abiogenesis: How Life May Have Begun

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