Due in part to their remote and inhospitable environments, our planet’s deserts are home to unknowable numbers of as yet undiscovered secrets.

From unidentified creatures to plant life and beyond, it is only when our scientists and researchers turn their focus to the world’s deserts that some of the secrets of these fascinating ecosystems can truly be understood.

And one such factor has been explored – albeit, not fully identified – by Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz geologist Professor Cees Passchier in a recent paper published in the Geomicrobiology Journal.

Because, according to Passchier’s paper, there is a lot more to the Namibian desert than meets the eye.

In the paper, Passchier introduces the reader to the unusual structures that he has discovered in rock formations throughout the deserts of Namibia, Oman, and Saudi Arabia.

The very thin tunnels or burrows, Passchier writes, were discovered in both limestone and marble specimens found in the desert regions, with one thing in particular that marked them out as highly unusual.

As Passchier explains in a statement, these thin tubes follow distinct parallel lines through the rock:

“We noticed strange structures in this marble that were not the result of geological events. We were surprised because these tubes are clearly not the result of a geological process. We don’t currently know whether this is a life form that has become extinct or is still alive somewhere.”

And these perforations – which to the untrained eye might look like natural rock formations or geological processes – are highly unusual, measuring half a millimetre in width and three centimeters in length, with up to ten meters of total length.

Though the rocks themselves are fascinating, Professor Passchier and his assembled team have turned their attention to who or what exactly made these mysterious structures, which are estimated to be up to one or two million years old.

With calcium carbonate dust within the tubes, the team ultimately concluded that whoever bored the holes likely did so to reach the mineral.

But exactly who was looking for the calcium carbonate remains a mystery still to be solved, as Passchier continued:

“We think that it must have been a microorganism that formed these tubes. What is so exciting about our discovery is that we do not know which endolithic microorganism this is. Is it a known form of life or a completely unknown organism?”

And since no DNA could be extracted from the prehistoric tubes, the search goes on – with Passchier hoping that other specialists will take the mantle, for one crucial reason:

“This form of life, of which we do not know whether it still exists, could be important for the global carbon cycle. It is therefore essential that the scientific community becomes aware of it.”

Though it’s a remote possibility that this mysterious microorganism could hold the key to rectifying our ravaged climate, it’s worth investigating nonetheless.

If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.