Formation of ordered dolomite in anaerobic photosynthetic biofilms
Name
Dolomitepaper1_SubmissionRevised 031319 ILP.pdf
Description
Accepted version
Size
164.23 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b76d96d15cb82ca308229ddc0a43593f
Author(s)
El Daye, Mirna
Higgins, John
Bosak, Tanja
Date Issued
April 2019
Journal
Geology
Publisher
Geological Society of America
Citation
Daye, Mirna et al. "Formation of ordered dolomite in anaerobic photosynthetic biofilms." Geology 47, 6 (April 2019): 509–512 © 2019 Geological Society of America
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Dolomite enabled the preservation of fine microbial textures in some Archean and Proterozoic marine microbialites, but has rarely done so during the Phanerozoic. Here, we report precipitation of dolomite in anoxygenic photosynthetic biofilms grown under chemical conditions relevant for Archean seawater. Ordered dolomite nucleates primarily on the surfaces of photosynthetic cells when manganese(II) is present, and nanocrystals of disordered dolomite form on exopolymeric substances in microbial cultures grown either in the dark or without manganese. Dolomite nucleation and maturation on different surfaces in photosynthetically active cultures amended with 0.1-1 mM manganese(II) enables the preservation of biofilm textures at scales larger than individual microbial cells. This provides a new model for the preservation of microbial textures by dolomite before the oxygenation of the oceanic photic zone.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1130/g45821.1
