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Stromatolite

January 31, 2023

Stromatolites (/stroʊˈmætəˌlaɪts, strə-/)[2][3] or stromatoliths (from Ancient Greek στρῶμα (strôma), GEN στρώματος (strṓmatos) 'layer, stratum', and λίθος (líthos) 'rock')[4] are layered sedimentary formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing bacteria, and Pseudomonadota (formerly proteobacteria). These microorganisms produce adhesive compounds that cement sand and other rocky materials to form mineral "microbial mats". In turn, these mats build up layer by layer, growing gradually over time.[5][6] A stromatolite may grow to a meter or more.[7][8] Although they are rare today, fossilized stromatolites provide records of ancient life on Earth.

Fossilized stromatolite in Strelley Pool chert, about 3.4 billion years old,[1] from Pilbara Craton, Western Australia
Modern stromatolites in Shark Bay, Western Australia

Morphology

 
Paleoproterozoic oncoids from the Franceville Basin, Gabon, Central Africa. Oncoids are unfixed stromatolites ranging in size from a few millimeters to a few centimeters
 
Fossilized stromatolites, about 425 million years old, in the Soeginina Beds (Paadla Formation, Ludlow, Silurian) near Kübassaare, Estonia

Stromatolites are layered, biochemical, accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping, binding and cementation of sedimentary grains in biofilms (specifically microbial mats), through the action of certain microbial lifeforms, especially cyanobacteria.[8] They exhibit a variety of forms and structures, or morphologies, including conical, stratiform, domal, columnar,[9] and branching types.[10] Stromatolites occur widely in the fossil record of the Precambrian, but are rare today.[11] Very few Archean stromatolites contain fossilized microbes, but fossilized microbes are sometimes abundant in Proterozoic stromatolites.[12]

While features of some stromatolites are suggestive of biological activity, others possess features that are more consistent with abiotic (non-biological) precipitation.[13] Finding reliable ways to distinguish between biologically formed and abiotic stromatolites is an active area of research in geology.[14][15] Be it as it may, multiple morphologies of stromatolites may exist in a single local or geological strata, relating to the specific conditions occurring in different region and water depths.[16]

Most stromatolites are spongiostromate in texture, having no recognisable microstructure or cellular remains. A minority are porostromate, having recognisable microstructure; these are mostly unknown from the Precambrian but persist throughout the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. Since the Eocene, porostromate stromatolites are known only from freshwater settings.[17]

Formation

Time lapse photography of modern microbial mat formation in a laboratory setting gives some revealing clues to the behavior of cyanobacteria in stromatolites. Biddanda et al. (2015) found that cyanobacteria exposed to localized beams of light moved towards the light, or expressed phototaxis, and increased their photosynthetic yield, which is necessary for survival.[18] In a novel experiment, the scientists projected a school logo onto a petri dish containing the organisms, which accreted beneath the lighted region, forming the logo in bacteria.[18] The authors speculate that such motility allows the cyanobacteria to seek light sources to support the colony.[18] In both light and dark conditions, the cyanobacteria form clumps that then expand outwards, with individual members remaining connected to the colony via long tendrils. This may be a protective mechanism that affords evolutionary benefit to the colony in harsh environments where mechanical forces act to tear apart the microbial mats. Thus these sometimes elaborate structures, constructed by microscopic organisms working somewhat in unison, are a means of providing shelter and protection from a harsh environment.

Lichen stromatolites are a proposed mechanism of formation of some kinds of layered rock structure that are formed above water, where rock meets air, by repeated colonization of the rock by endolithic lichens.[19][20]

Fossil record

Some Archean rock formations show macroscopic similarity to modern microbial structures, leading to the inference that these structures represent evidence of ancient life, namely stromatolites. However, others regard these patterns as being due to natural material deposition or some other abiogenic mechanism. Scientists have argued for a biological origin of stromatolites due to the presence of organic globule clusters within the thin layers of the stromatolites, of aragonite nanocrystals (both features of current stromatolites),[14] and of other microstructures in older stromatolites that parallel those in younger stromatolites that show strong indications of biological origin.[21][22]

 
Fossilized stromatolites in the Hoyt Limestone (Cambrian) exposed at Lester Park, near Saratoga Springs, New York
 
Precambrian fossilized stromatolites in the Siyeh Formation, Glacier National Park
 
Fossilized stromatolites (Pika Formation, middle Cambrian) near Helen Lake, Banff National Park, Canada

Stromatolites are a major constituent of the fossil record of the first forms of life on earth.[23] They peaked about 1.25 billion years ago[21] and subsequently declined in abundance and diversity,[24] so that by the start of the Cambrian they had fallen to 20% of their peak. The most widely supported explanation is that stromatolite builders fell victim to grazing creatures (the Cambrian substrate revolution); this theory implies that sufficiently complex organisms were common over 1 billion years ago.[25][26][27] Another hypothesis is that protozoans such as foraminifera were responsible for the decline, favoring formation of thrombolites over stromatolites through microscopic bioturbation.[28]

Proterozoic stromatolite microfossils (preserved by permineralization in silica) include cyanobacteria and possibly some forms of the eukaryote chlorophytes (that is, green algae). One genus of stromatolite very common in the geologic record is Collenia.

The connection between grazer and stromatolite abundance is well documented in the younger Ordovician evolutionary radiation; stromatolite abundance also increased after the end-Ordovician and end-Permian extinctions decimated marine animals, falling back to earlier levels as marine animals recovered.[29] Fluctuations in metazoan population and diversity may not have been the only factor in the reduction in stromatolite abundance. Factors such as the chemistry of the environment may have been responsible for changes.[30][11]

While prokaryotic cyanobacteria reproduce asexually through cell division, they were instrumental in priming the environment for the evolutionary development of more complex eukaryotic organisms.[23] Cyanobacteria are thought to be largely responsible for increasing the amount of oxygen in the primeval earth's atmosphere through their continuing photosynthesis (see Great Oxygenation Event). Cyanobacteria use water, carbon dioxide, and sunlight to create their food. A layer of polysaccharides often forms over mats of cyanobacterial cells.[31] In modern microbial mats, debris from the surrounding habitat can become trapped within the polysaccharide layer, which can be cemented together by the calcium carbonate to grow thin laminations of limestone. These laminations can accrete over time, resulting in the banded pattern common to stromatolites. The domal morphology of biological stromatolites is the result of the vertical growth necessary for the continued infiltration of sunlight to the organisms for photosynthesis. Layered spherical growth structures termed oncolites are similar to stromatolites and are also known from the fossil record. Thrombolites are poorly laminated or non-laminated clotted structures formed by cyanobacteria, common in the fossil record and in modern sediments.[14] There is evidence that thrombolites form in preference to stromatolites when foraminifera are part of the biological community.[32]

The Zebra River Canyon area of the Kubis platform in the deeply dissected Zaris Mountains of south western Namibia provides an extremely well exposed example of the thrombolite-stromatolite-metazoan reefs that developed during the Proterozoic period, the stromatolites here being better developed in updip locations under conditions of higher current velocities and greater sediment influx.[33]

Modern occurrence

 
Stromatolites at Lake Thetis, Western Australia
 
Stromatolites at Highborne Cay, in the Exumas, The Bahamas

Saline locations

Modern stromatolites are mostly found in hypersaline lakes and marine lagoons where extreme conditions due to high saline levels prevent animal grazing.[34][35] One such location where excellent modern specimens can be observed is Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve, Shark Bay in Western Australia. Another location is Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve in Chile. A third is Lagoa Salgada ("Salty Lake"), in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, where modern stromatolites can be observed as both bioherms (domal type) and beds. Inland stromatolites can also be found in saline waters in Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, a unique ecosystem in the Mexican desert, and in Lake Alchichica, a maar lake in Mexico's Oriental Basin. The only open marine environment where modern stromatolites are known to prosper is the Exuma Cays in the Bahamas.[36][37]

In 2010, a fifth type of chlorophyll, namely chlorophyll f, was discovered by Min Chen from stromatolites in Shark Bay.[38]

Modern freshwater stromatolites

Laguna de Bacalar in Mexico's southern Yucatán Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo, has an extensive formation of living giant microbialites (that is, stromatolites or thrombolites). The microbialite bed is over 10 km (6.2 mi) long with a vertical rise of several meters in some areas. These may be the largest sized living freshwater microbialites, or any organism, on Earth.[39]

Alchichica Lake in Puebla, Mexico has two distinct morphologic generations of stromatolites: columnar-dome like structures, rich in aragonite, forming near the shore line, dated back to 1,100 years before present (ybp) and spongy-cauliflower like thrombolytic structures that dominate the lake from top to the bottom, mainly composed of hydromagnesite, huntite, calcite and dated back to 2,800 ybp.[40]

A little farther to the south, a 1.5 km stretch of reef-forming stromatolites (primarily of the genus Scytonema) occurs in Chetumal Bay in Belize, just south of the mouth of the Rio Hondo and the Mexican border.[41]

Large, up to 40 m high, microbialite towers were discovered in the largest soda lake on Earth: 460 m deep Lake Van in Eastern Turkey. They are composed of aragonite growing on presumably precipitating inorganically calcite at sub-lacustrine karst-water sources.[42]

Freshwater stromatolites are found in Lake Salda in southern Turkey. The waters are rich in magnesium and the stromatolite structures are made of hydromagnesite.[43]

Two instances of freshwater stromatolites are also found in Canada, at Pavilion Lake and Kelly Lake in British Columbia. Pavilion Lake has the largest known freshwater stromatolites and NASA is currently conducting xenobiology research there.[44] NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and numerous universities from around the world are collaborating on a project to study the microbialite life in the lakes. Called the "Pavilion Lake Research Project" (PLRP), its aim is to study what conditions on the lakes' bottoms are most likely to harbor life and develop a better hypothesis on how environmental factors affect microbialite life. The end goal of the project is to better understand what conditions would likely harbor life on other planets.[45] Now concluded, there was a citizen science project conducted online called "MAPPER" where volunteers sorted through thousands of photos of the lake bottoms and tagged the presence of microbialites, algae and other lake bed features.[46]

Microbialites have been discovered in an open pit pond at an abandoned asbestos mine near Clinton Creek, Yukon, Canada.[47] These microbialites are extremely young and presumably began forming soon after the mine closed in 1978. The combination of a low sedimentation rate, high calcification rate, and low microbial growth rate appears to result in the formation of these microbialites. Microbialites at an historic mine site demonstrates that an anthropogenically constructed environment can foster microbial carbonate formation. This has implications for creating artificial environments for building modern microbialites including stromatolites.

 
'Crayback' stromatolite – Nettle Cave, Jenolan Caves, NSW, Australia

A very rare type of non-lake dwelling stromatolite lives in the Nettle Cave at Jenolan Caves, NSW, Australia.[48] The cyanobacteria live on the surface of the limestone, and are sustained by the calcium rich dripping water, which allows them to grow toward the two open ends of the cave which provide light.[49]

Stromatolites composed of calcite have been found in both the Blue Lake in the dormant volcano, Mount Gambier and at least eight cenote lakes including the Little Blue Lake in the Lower South-East of South Australia.[50]

See also

References

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Further reading

  • Grotzinger, John P.; Andrew H. Knoll (1999). "Stromatolites in Precambrian Carbonates: Evolutionary Mileposts or Environmental Dipsticks?". Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. 27: 313–58. Bibcode:1999AREPS..27..313G. doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.27.1.313. PMID 11543060.
  • Allwood, Abigail C.; Malcolm R. Walter; Balz S. Kamber; Craig P. Marshall; Ian W. Burch (2006). "Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia". Nature. 441 (7094): 714–8. Bibcode:2006Natur.441..714A. doi:10.1038/nature04764. PMID 16760969. S2CID 4417746.
  • Awramik, S.; Sprinkle, J. (1999). "Proterozoic stromatolites: the first marine evolutionary biota". Historical Biology. 13 (4): 241–253. doi:10.1080/08912969909386584.
  • Farías, María E.; Rascovan, Nicolás; Toneatti, Diego M.; Albarracín, Virginia H.; Flores, María R.; Poiré, Daniel Gustavo; Collavino, Mónica Mariana; Aguilar, O. Mario; Vázquez, Martín; Polerecky, Lubos (2013). "The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes". PLOS ONE. 8 (1): 15. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...853497F. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0053497. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3538587. PMID 23308236. Retrieved 14 April 2014.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stromatolites.
  • "Stromatolites – Pilbara". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  • "Research Initiatives in Bahamian Stromatolites". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  • "Laguna Bacalar Institute". Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  • Stromatolite photo gallery, a teaching set from Ohio State University

January 31, 2023
stromatolite, stromatoliths, from, ancient, greek, στρῶμα, strôma, στρώματος, strṓmatos, layer, stratum, λίθος, líthos, rock, layered, sedimentary, formations, microbialite, that, created, mainly, photosynthetic, microorganisms, such, cyanobacteria, sulfate, r. Stromatolites s t r oʊ ˈ m ae t e ˌ l aɪ t s s t r e 2 3 or stromatoliths from Ancient Greek strῶma stroma GEN strwmatos strṓmatos layer stratum and li8os lithos rock 4 are layered sedimentary formations microbialite that are created mainly by photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria sulfate reducing bacteria and Pseudomonadota formerly proteobacteria These microorganisms produce adhesive compounds that cement sand and other rocky materials to form mineral microbial mats In turn these mats build up layer by layer growing gradually over time 5 6 A stromatolite may grow to a meter or more 7 8 Although they are rare today fossilized stromatolites provide records of ancient life on Earth Fossilized stromatolite in Strelley Pool chert about 3 4 billion years old 1 from Pilbara Craton Western Australia Modern stromatolites in Shark Bay Western Australia Contents 1 Morphology 2 Formation 3 Fossil record 4 Modern occurrence 4 1 Saline locations 4 2 Modern freshwater stromatolites 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksMorphology Edit Paleoproterozoic oncoids from the Franceville Basin Gabon Central Africa Oncoids are unfixed stromatolites ranging in size from a few millimeters to a few centimeters Fossilized stromatolites about 425 million years old in the Soeginina Beds Paadla Formation Ludlow Silurian near Kubassaare Estonia Stromatolites are layered biochemical accretionary structures formed in shallow water by the trapping binding and cementation of sedimentary grains in biofilms specifically microbial mats through the action of certain microbial lifeforms especially cyanobacteria 8 They exhibit a variety of forms and structures or morphologies including conical stratiform domal columnar 9 and branching types 10 Stromatolites occur widely in the fossil record of the Precambrian but are rare today 11 Very few Archean stromatolites contain fossilized microbes but fossilized microbes are sometimes abundant in Proterozoic stromatolites 12 While features of some stromatolites are suggestive of biological activity others possess features that are more consistent with abiotic non biological precipitation 13 Finding reliable ways to distinguish between biologically formed and abiotic stromatolites is an active area of research in geology 14 15 Be it as it may multiple morphologies of stromatolites may exist in a single local or geological strata relating to the specific conditions occurring in different region and water depths 16 Most stromatolites are spongiostromate in texture having no recognisable microstructure or cellular remains A minority are porostromate having recognisable microstructure these are mostly unknown from the Precambrian but persist throughout the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic Since the Eocene porostromate stromatolites are known only from freshwater settings 17 Formation EditTime lapse photography of modern microbial mat formation in a laboratory setting gives some revealing clues to the behavior of cyanobacteria in stromatolites Biddanda et al 2015 found that cyanobacteria exposed to localized beams of light moved towards the light or expressed phototaxis and increased their photosynthetic yield which is necessary for survival 18 In a novel experiment the scientists projected a school logo onto a petri dish containing the organisms which accreted beneath the lighted region forming the logo in bacteria 18 The authors speculate that such motility allows the cyanobacteria to seek light sources to support the colony 18 In both light and dark conditions the cyanobacteria form clumps that then expand outwards with individual members remaining connected to the colony via long tendrils This may be a protective mechanism that affords evolutionary benefit to the colony in harsh environments where mechanical forces act to tear apart the microbial mats Thus these sometimes elaborate structures constructed by microscopic organisms working somewhat in unison are a means of providing shelter and protection from a harsh environment Lichen stromatolites are a proposed mechanism of formation of some kinds of layered rock structure that are formed above water where rock meets air by repeated colonization of the rock by endolithic lichens 19 20 Fossil record EditSome Archean rock formations show macroscopic similarity to modern microbial structures leading to the inference that these structures represent evidence of ancient life namely stromatolites However others regard these patterns as being due to natural material deposition or some other abiogenic mechanism Scientists have argued for a biological origin of stromatolites due to the presence of organic globule clusters within the thin layers of the stromatolites of aragonite nanocrystals both features of current stromatolites 14 and of other microstructures in older stromatolites that parallel those in younger stromatolites that show strong indications of biological origin 21 22 Fossilized stromatolites in the Hoyt Limestone Cambrian exposed at Lester Park near Saratoga Springs New York Precambrian fossilized stromatolites in the Siyeh Formation Glacier National Park Fossilized stromatolites Pika Formation middle Cambrian near Helen Lake Banff National Park Canada Stromatolites are a major constituent of the fossil record of the first forms of life on earth 23 They peaked about 1 25 billion years ago 21 and subsequently declined in abundance and diversity 24 so that by the start of the Cambrian they had fallen to 20 of their peak The most widely supported explanation is that stromatolite builders fell victim to grazing creatures the Cambrian substrate revolution this theory implies that sufficiently complex organisms were common over 1 billion years ago 25 26 27 Another hypothesis is that protozoans such as foraminifera were responsible for the decline favoring formation of thrombolites over stromatolites through microscopic bioturbation 28 Proterozoic stromatolite microfossils preserved by permineralization in silica include cyanobacteria and possibly some forms of the eukaryote chlorophytes that is green algae One genus of stromatolite very common in the geologic record is Collenia The connection between grazer and stromatolite abundance is well documented in the younger Ordovician evolutionary radiation stromatolite abundance also increased after the end Ordovician and end Permian extinctions decimated marine animals falling back to earlier levels as marine animals recovered 29 Fluctuations in metazoan population and diversity may not have been the only factor in the reduction in stromatolite abundance Factors such as the chemistry of the environment may have been responsible for changes 30 11 While prokaryotic cyanobacteria reproduce asexually through cell division they were instrumental in priming the environment for the evolutionary development of more complex eukaryotic organisms 23 Cyanobacteria are thought to be largely responsible for increasing the amount of oxygen in the primeval earth s atmosphere through their continuing photosynthesis see Great Oxygenation Event Cyanobacteria use water carbon dioxide and sunlight to create their food A layer of polysaccharides often forms over mats of cyanobacterial cells 31 In modern microbial mats debris from the surrounding habitat can become trapped within the polysaccharide layer which can be cemented together by the calcium carbonate to grow thin laminations of limestone These laminations can accrete over time resulting in the banded pattern common to stromatolites The domal morphology of biological stromatolites is the result of the vertical growth necessary for the continued infiltration of sunlight to the organisms for photosynthesis Layered spherical growth structures termed oncolites are similar to stromatolites and are also known from the fossil record Thrombolites are poorly laminated or non laminated clotted structures formed by cyanobacteria common in the fossil record and in modern sediments 14 There is evidence that thrombolites form in preference to stromatolites when foraminifera are part of the biological community 32 The Zebra River Canyon area of the Kubis platform in the deeply dissected Zaris Mountains of south western Namibia provides an extremely well exposed example of the thrombolite stromatolite metazoan reefs that developed during the Proterozoic period the stromatolites here being better developed in updip locations under conditions of higher current velocities and greater sediment influx 33 Modern occurrence Edit Stromatolites at Lake Thetis Western Australia Stromatolites at Highborne Cay in the Exumas The Bahamas Saline locations Edit Modern stromatolites are mostly found in hypersaline lakes and marine lagoons where extreme conditions due to high saline levels prevent animal grazing 34 35 One such location where excellent modern specimens can be observed is Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve Shark Bay in Western Australia Another location is Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve in Chile A third is Lagoa Salgada Salty Lake in the state of Rio Grande do Norte Brazil where modern stromatolites can be observed as both bioherms domal type and beds Inland stromatolites can also be found in saline waters in Cuatro Cienegas Basin a unique ecosystem in the Mexican desert and in Lake Alchichica a maar lake in Mexico s Oriental Basin The only open marine environment where modern stromatolites are known to prosper is the Exuma Cays in the Bahamas 36 37 In 2010 a fifth type of chlorophyll namely chlorophyll f was discovered by Min Chen from stromatolites in Shark Bay 38 Modern freshwater stromatolites Edit Microbialite towers at Pavilion Lake British Columbia Laguna de Bacalar in Mexico s southern Yucatan Peninsula in the state of Quintana Roo has an extensive formation of living giant microbialites that is stromatolites or thrombolites The microbialite bed is over 10 km 6 2 mi long with a vertical rise of several meters in some areas These may be the largest sized living freshwater microbialites or any organism on Earth 39 Alchichica Lake in Puebla Mexico has two distinct morphologic generations of stromatolites columnar dome like structures rich in aragonite forming near the shore line dated back to 1 100 years before present ybp and spongy cauliflower like thrombolytic structures that dominate the lake from top to the bottom mainly composed of hydromagnesite huntite calcite and dated back to 2 800 ybp 40 A little farther to the south a 1 5 km stretch of reef forming stromatolites primarily of the genus Scytonema occurs in Chetumal Bay in Belize just south of the mouth of the Rio Hondo and the Mexican border 41 Large up to 40 m high microbialite towers were discovered in the largest soda lake on Earth 460 m deep Lake Van in Eastern Turkey They are composed of aragonite growing on presumably precipitating inorganically calcite at sub lacustrine karst water sources 42 Freshwater stromatolites are found in Lake Salda in southern Turkey The waters are rich in magnesium and the stromatolite structures are made of hydromagnesite 43 Two instances of freshwater stromatolites are also found in Canada at Pavilion Lake and Kelly Lake in British Columbia Pavilion Lake has the largest known freshwater stromatolites and NASA is currently conducting xenobiology research there 44 NASA the Canadian Space Agency and numerous universities from around the world are collaborating on a project to study the microbialite life in the lakes Called the Pavilion Lake Research Project PLRP its aim is to study what conditions on the lakes bottoms are most likely to harbor life and develop a better hypothesis on how environmental factors affect microbialite life The end goal of the project is to better understand what conditions would likely harbor life on other planets 45 Now concluded there was a citizen science project conducted online called MAPPER where volunteers sorted through thousands of photos of the lake bottoms and tagged the presence of microbialites algae and other lake bed features 46 Microbialites have been discovered in an open pit pond at an abandoned asbestos mine near Clinton Creek Yukon Canada 47 These microbialites are extremely young and presumably began forming soon after the mine closed in 1978 The combination of a low sedimentation rate high calcification rate and low microbial growth rate appears to result in the formation of these microbialites Microbialites at an historic mine site demonstrates that an anthropogenically constructed environment can foster microbial carbonate formation This has implications for creating artificial environments for building modern microbialites including stromatolites Crayback stromatolite Nettle Cave Jenolan Caves NSW Australia A very rare type of non lake dwelling stromatolite lives in the Nettle Cave at Jenolan Caves NSW Australia 48 The cyanobacteria live on the surface of the limestone and are sustained by the calcium rich dripping water which allows them to grow toward the two open ends of the cave which provide light 49 Stromatolites composed of calcite have been found in both the Blue Lake in the dormant volcano Mount Gambier and at least eight cenote lakes including the Little Blue Lake in the Lower South East of South Australia 50 See also EditBanded iron formation Cotham Marble Gunflint Range Laguna Negra Catamarca Microbially induced sedimentary structure Ojos de MarReferences Edit Duda J P Van Kranendonk M J Thiel V Ionescu D Strauss H Schafer N Reitner J 2016 A Rare Glimpse of Paleoarchean Life Geobiology of an Exceptionally Preserved Microbial Mat Facies from the 3 4 Ga Strelley Pool Formation Western Australia PLOS One 11 1 e0147629 Bibcode 2016PLoSO 1147629D doi 10 1371 journal pone 0147629 PMC 4726515 PMID 26807732 stromatolite Merriam Webster Dictionary Retrieved 21 January 2016 stromatolite Lexico UK English Dictionary Oxford University Press Archived from the original on 17 June 2020 strῶma li8os Liddell Henry George Scott Robert A Greek English Lexicon at the Perseus Project Winner Cherie 15 November 2013 What Doomed the Stromatolites Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Two ton 500 Million year old Fossil Of Stromatolite Discovered In Virginia U S 8 July 2008 Stromatolites Indiana University Bloomington Archived from the original on 19 March 2018 Retrieved 14 May 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link a b Riding R 2007 The term stromatolite towards an essential definition Lethaia 32 4 321 30 doi 10 1111 j 1502 3931 1999 tb00550 x Archived from the original on 2 May 2015 Zhu Dongya Liu Quanyou Wang Jingbin Ding Qian He Zhiliang July 2021 Stable carbon and oxygen isotope data of Late Ediacaran stromatolites from a hypersaline environment in the Tarim Basin NW China and their reservoir potential Facies 67 3 25 doi 10 1007 s10347 021 00633 0 S2CID 235638690 Planavsky Noah Grey Kathleen 16 August 2007 Stromatolite branching 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0 691 08864 8 a b Garwood Russell J 2012 Patterns in Palaeontology The first 3 billion years of evolution Palaeontology Online 2 11 1 14 Archived from the original on 26 June 2015 Retrieved 25 June 2015 McMenamin M A S 1982 Precambrian conical stromatolites from California and Sonora Bulletin of the Southern California Paleontological Society 14 9 amp 10 103 105 McNamara K J 20 December 1996 Dating the Origin of Animals Science 274 5295 1993 1997 Bibcode 1996Sci 274 1993M doi 10 1126 science 274 5295 1993f Awramik S M 19 November 1971 Precambrian columnar stromatolite diversity Reflection of metazoan appearance Science 174 4011 825 827 Bibcode 1971Sci 174 825A doi 10 1126 science 174 4011 825 PMID 17759393 S2CID 2302113 Bengtson S 2002 Origins and early evolution of predation PDF In Kowalewski M Kelley P H eds The fossil record of predation The Paleontological Society Papers Vol 8 The Paleontological Society pp 289 317 Retrieved 29 December 2014 Bernhard J M Edgcomb V P Visscher P T 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Biotechnology 30 4 321 330 doi 10 1080 10826060008544971 PMID 11065277 S2CID 37979265 Nuwer Rachel 30 May 2013 What Happened to the Stromatolites the Most Ancient Visible Lifeforms on Earth Smithsonian Magazine Smithsonian Institution Retrieved 18 April 2020 Adams E W Grotzinger J P Watters W A Schroder S McCormick D S Al Siyabi H A 2005 Digital characterization of thrombolite stromatolite reef distribution in a carbonate ramp system terminal Proterozoic Nama Group Namibia PDF AAPG Bulletin 89 10 1293 1318 doi 10 1306 06160505005 Archived PDF from the original on 7 March 2016 Retrieved 9 December 2011 Stromatolite geology Oldest evidence of life on Earth found in Australia The Economic Times 217 Stromatolites Lee Stocking Exumas Bahamas Bahamas Archived from the original on 26 March 2010 Retrieved 8 December 2011 Feldmann M McKenzie JA April 1998 Stromatolite thrombolite associations in a modern environment Lee Stocking Island Bahamas PALAIOS 13 2 201 212 Bibcode 1998Palai 13 201F doi 10 2307 3515490 JSTOR 3515490 Chen M Schliep M Willows R D Cai Z L Neilan B A Scheer H 2010 A Red Shifted Chlorophyll Science 329 5997 1318 1319 Bibcode 2010Sci 329 1318C doi 10 1126 science 1191127 PMID 20724585 S2CID 206527174 Gischler E Gibson M amp Oschmann W 2008 Giant Holocene Freshwater Microbialites Laguna Bacalar Quintana Roo Mexico Sedimentology 55 5 1293 1309 Bibcode 2008Sedim 55 1293G doi 10 1111 j 1365 3091 2007 00946 x S2CID 129828647 Kazmierczak J Kempe S Kremer B Lopez Garcia P Moreira D amp Tavera R 2011 Hydrochemistry and microbialites of the alkaline caldera Lake Alchichica Mexico Facies 57 543 570 doi 10 1007 s10347 010 0255 8 Rasmussen K A Macintyre I G amp Prufert L March 1993 Modern stromatolite reefs fringing a brackish coastline Chetumal Bay Belize PDF Geology 21 3 199 202 Bibcode 1993Geo 21 199R doi 10 1130 0091 7613 1993 021 lt 0199 MSRFAB gt 2 3 CO 2 Kempe S Kazmierczak J Landmann G Konuk T Reimer A amp Lipp A 1991 Largest known microbialites discovered in Lake Van Turkey Nature 349 6310 605 608 Bibcode 1991Natur 349 605K doi 10 1038 349605a0 S2CID 4240438 Braithwaite C amp Zedef V November 1996 Living hydromagnesite stromatolites from Turkey Sedimentary Geology 106 3 4 309 Bibcode 1996SedG 106 309B doi 10 1016 S0037 0738 96 00073 5 Ferris FG Thompson JB Beveridge TJ June 1997 Modern Freshwater Microbialites from Kelly Lake British Columbia Canada PALAIOS 12 3 213 219 Bibcode 1997Palai 12 213F doi 10 2307 3515423 JSTOR 3515423 Brady A Slater G F Omelon C R Southam G Druschel G Andersen A Hawes I Laval B Lim D S S 2010 Photosynthetic isotope biosignatures in laminated micro stromatolitic and non laminated nodules associated with modern freshwater microbialites in Pavilion Lake B C Chemical Geology 274 1 2 56 67 Bibcode 2010ChGeo 274 56B doi 10 1016 j chemgeo 2010 03 016 NASA Help NASA Find Life on Mars With MAPPER NASA Archived from the original on 30 September 2011 Retrieved 10 December 2011 Power I M Wilson S A Dipple G M and Southam G 2011 Modern carbonate microbialites from an asbestos open pit pond Yukon Canada http onlinelibrary wiley com doi 10 1111 gbi 2011 9 issue 2 issuetoc Archived 11 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine Geobiology 9 180 195 Jenolan Caves Reserve Trust Nettle Cave Self guided tour Archived from the original on 10 September 2011 Retrieved 22 May 2011 Cox G James JM Leggett KEA Osborne RAL 1989 Cyanobacterially deposited speleothems Subaerial stromatolites Geomicrobiology Journal 7 4 245 252 doi 10 1080 01490458909377870 Thurgate Mia E 1996 The Stromatolites of the Cenote Lakes of the Lower South East of South Australia PDF Helictite Journal of Australasian Cave Research 34 1 17 ISSN 0017 9973 Archived PDF from the original on 5 February 2014 Retrieved 14 March 2014 Further reading EditGrotzinger John P Andrew H Knoll 1999 Stromatolites in Precambrian Carbonates Evolutionary Mileposts or Environmental Dipsticks Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 27 313 58 Bibcode 1999AREPS 27 313G doi 10 1146 annurev earth 27 1 313 PMID 11543060 Allwood Abigail C Malcolm R Walter Balz S Kamber Craig P Marshall Ian W Burch 2006 Stromatolite reef from the Early Archaean era of Australia Nature 441 7094 714 8 Bibcode 2006Natur 441 714A doi 10 1038 nature04764 PMID 16760969 S2CID 4417746 Awramik S Sprinkle J 1999 Proterozoic stromatolites the first marine evolutionary biota Historical Biology 13 4 241 253 doi 10 1080 08912969909386584 Farias Maria E Rascovan Nicolas Toneatti Diego M Albarracin Virginia H Flores Maria R Poire Daniel Gustavo Collavino Monica Mariana Aguilar O Mario Vazquez Martin Polerecky Lubos 2013 The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high altitude volcanic lake Socompa Argentinean Andes PLOS ONE 8 1 15 Bibcode 2013PLoSO 853497F doi 10 1371 journal pone 0053497 ISSN 1932 6203 PMC 3538587 PMID 23308236 Retrieved 14 April 2014 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stromatolites Stromatolites Pilbara Retrieved 10 December 2011 Research Initiatives in Bahamian Stromatolites Retrieved 10 December 2011 Laguna Bacalar Institute Retrieved 10 December 2011 Stromatolite photo gallery a teaching set from Ohio State University Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stromatolite amp oldid 1136347223, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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