An international research team, including Moroccan scientists, has succeeded in discovering traces of movements of multi-cellular organisms that are 539 million years old.

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The traces of the movements of these microscopic organisms, the first of their kind in Morocco, were found in the Atlas Mountains, according to the research team.

Researchers from the Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech contributed to these efforts.

The scientists released a statement quoted by the local newspaper “Hespress,” in which they stated, “The discovery contributed to identifying the first specific biological indicators for the stratigraphic boundary between the Ediacaran era (end of the Precambrian era) and the Cambrian era (marked by the flourishing of life and the diversity of multicellular organisms).” The statement added, “The appearance of these organisms during the Cambrian era represents a significant stage not extensively documented in the geological records yet, with the most important and studied sites in recent decades being in Australia, Canada, China, and Namibia.”

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The statement pointed out that the Western Little Atlas mountain range contains vast areas where marine sedimentary layers appear that have not undergone transformation since their deposition, covering the time period between the Ediacaran and Cambrian eras.

It further explained, “The mountains include layers that show the activity of living organisms through horizontal and vertical traces, documenting the activity of multicellular organisms such as worms.”

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The statement clarified that the discovered traces indicate the emergence of organisms capable of movement and burrowing in sediments, confirmed through isotopic analysis of the deposited layers. The results matched those recorded in other locations around the world.