stromatolite, layered deposit, mainly of limestone, formed by the growth of blue-green algae (primitive one-celled organisms). These structures are usually characterized by thin, alternating light and dark layers that may be flat, hummocky, or dome-shaped. The alternating layers are largely produced by the trapping of sediment washed up during storms on some occasions and by limestone precipitation by the blue-green algae on others.
Stromatolites were common in Precambrian time (i.e., more than 542 million years ago). Some of the first forms of life on Earth are recorded in stromatolites present in rocks 3.5 billion years old. Although stromatolites continue to form in certain areas of the world today, they grow in greatest abundance in Shark Bay in western Australia. A matlike layer of blue-green algae is able to grow on the surface of sediments in the shallow waters there because evaporation causes high concentrations of salt that discourage snails and other organisms from eating the blue-green algae.