Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Fossil and Recent Biofilms pp 103–118Cite as

Microbial Processes Forming Marine Stromatolites

Microbe-Mineral Interactions with a Three-Billion-Year Rock Record

  • Chapter

Abstract

Research in the burgeoning field of geomicrobiology reveals an “intimate juxtaposition and interdependence” of microbes and minerals that we are only beginning to appreciate (Skinner 1997, p. 1). Future studies of microbe-mineral interactions are likely to lead to major advances in our understanding of such fundamental issues as the dynamics of sedimentation, the flow of energy and matter through the biosphere, and the evolution of life on Earth (Nealson 2000, Nealson and Stahl 1997, Hazen 2001)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  • Awramik, S.M. and Riding, R. (1988) Role of algal eukaryotes in subtidal columnar stromatolite formation. Proceeding of National Academy of Science, USA, 85, 1327–1329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertrand-Sarfati, J. (1976) An attempt to classify late Precambrian stromatolite microstructures. In: Walter, M.R. (ed.), Stromatolites Developments in Sedimentology, Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, 20, 251–259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decho A.W., and Kawaguchi, T. (1999) Confocal imaging of in situ natural microbial communities and their extracellular polymeric secretions using Nanoplast resin. BioTechniques 27, 1246–1252.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decho, A.W. (1999) Chemical communications within microbial biofilms: chemotaxis and quorum sensing in bacteria, in Wingender, J., New, T.R., Flemming, H.C. (eds.), Microbial Extracellular Polymeric Substances, Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 155–170.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Decho, A.W. (2002) The extracellular polymeric (EPS) matrix and calcification within modern marine stromatolite, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M., and Zavarzin, G.A. (eds), Fossils and Recent Biofilms-a natural history of life on Earth, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. xx-xx.

    Google Scholar 

  • Decho, A.W., Visscher, P.T. and Reid, R.P. (submitted) Cycling and production of natural microbial exopolymers (EPS) within a marine stromatolite. Aquatic Microbial Ecology.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dill, R.F. (1991) Subtidal stromatolites, ooids and crusted-lime muds at the Great Bahama Bank Margin, in Osborne, R.H. (ed.), From Shoreline to Abyss, SEPM Special Publication 46, 147–171, Tulsa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dill, R.F., Shinn, E.A., Jones, A.T., Kelly, K. and Steinen, R.P. (1986) Giant subtidal stromatolites forming in normal salinity water. Nature 324, 55–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dravis, J.J. (1983): Hardened subtidal stromatolites, Bahamas, Science, 219, 385–386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fuqua, C., Winans, S.C., and Greenberg, E.P. (1996) Census and consensus in bacterial ecosystems: the LuxRLuxI family of quorum sensing transcriptional regulators, Ann. Rev. Microbiology 50, 727–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Golubic, S., and Browne, K.M. (1996) Schizothrix gebeleinii sp. nova builds subtidal stromatolites, Lee Stocking Island, Algological Studies 83, 273–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grant J. and Emerson, C. (1994) Resuspension and stabilization of sediments with microbial biofilms: implications for benthic-pelagic coupling, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M. and Stal, L.J. (eds.), Biostabilization of Sediments, Bibliotheks and Informationssystem der Universitaet Oldenburg, Oldenburg, pp. 121–134.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grotzinger, J. P. and Rothman, D. H. (1996) An abiotic model for stromatolite morphogenesis, Nature 383, 423–425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grotzinger, J.P. and Knoll, A.H. (1999) Stromatolites in Precambrian carbonates: evolutionary mileposts or environmental dipsticks? Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 27, 313–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hazen, R.M. (2001) Life’s rocky start, Scientitic American April 2001, 76–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoffman, H.J., Grey, A.H., Hickman, A.H. and Thorpe, R.T. (1999) Origin of 3.45 Ga coniform stromatolites in Warrawoona Group, Western Australia. Geological Society of America Bulletin 111, 1256–1262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawaguchi, T. and A.W. Decho (2000) Biochemical characterization of cyanobacterial extracellular polymers (EPS) from modern marine stromatolites, Preparative Biochemistry and BioTechnology 30, 321–330.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krumbein, W.E. (1994) The year of the slime, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M. and Stal, L.J. (eds.), Biostabilization of Sediments, Bibliotheks und Informationssystem der Universitaet Oldenburg, Oldenburg. pp. 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macintyre, LG., Prufert-Bebout, L. and Reid, R.P. (2000) The role of endolithic cyanobacteria in the formation of lithified laminae in Bahamian stromatolites, Sedimentology 47, 915–921.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nealson, K.H. (2000) Crystal ball: the future of biocomplexity, Environmental Microbiology 2, 3–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nealson, K.H. and Stahl, D.A. (1997) Microorganisms and biogeochemical cycles: what can we learn from layered microbial communities? in Banfield, J.F and Nealson, K.H. (eds.), Geomicrobiology: Interactions between Microbes and Minerals, Mineralogical Society of America, Reviews in Mineralogy 35, 5–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paerl, H.W., Steppe, T.F., Reid, R.P. (2001) Bacterially-mediated precipitation in marine stromatolites, Environmental Microbiology 3, 123–130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, C. T. (1998) Grain susceptibility to the effects of microboring: implications for the presevation of skeletal carbonates, Sedimentology 45, 39–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinckney, J.L. and Reid, R.P. (1997) Productivity and community composition of stromatolitic microbial mats in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas, Facies 36, 204–207.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reid, R.P. and Browne, K.M. (1991) Intertidal stromatolites in a fringing Holocene reef complex in the Bahamas, Geology 19, 15–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, R.P., Maclntyre, LG., Browne, K.M., Steneck, R.S. and Miller, T. (1995) Modern marine stromatolites in the Exuma Cays, Bahamas: uncommonly common, Facies 33, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, R.P., Macintyre, I.G., and Steneck, R.S. (1999) A microbialite/algal ridge fringing reef complex, Highborne Cay, Bahamas, Atoll Research Bulletin 466, 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid, R.P., Visscher, P.T., Decho, A.W., Stolz, J.K., Bebout, B.M., Dupraz, C., Mactintyre, LG., Paerl, H.W., Pinckney, J.L., Prufert-Bebout, L., Steppe, T.F., and DesMarais, D.J. (2000) The role of microbes in accretion, lamination and early lithification of modern marine stromatolites, Nature 406, 989–992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Riding, R. (1994) Stromatolite survival and change: the significance of Shark Bay and Lee Stocking Island subtidal columns, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M. and Stal, L.J. (eds.), Biostabilization of Sediments, Bibliotheks und Informationssystem der Universitaet Oldenburg, Oldenburg, 183–202.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seong-Joo, L. and Golubic, S. (1999) Early cyanobacterial fossil record: preservation, palaeoenvironments and identification, European J. Phycology 34, 339–348.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seong-Joo, L. and Golubic, S. (2000) Biological and mineral components of an ancient stromatolite; Gaoyuzhuang Formation, Mesoproterozoic of China, SEPM Spec. Pub. 67, 92–102.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seong-Joo, L., Browne, K.M. and Golubic, S. (2000) On stromatolite lamination, in:Riding, R.E. and Awramik, S.M. (eds.), Microbial Sediments, Springer Verlag, New York, pp. 16–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, H.C.W. (1997) Preface, in Banfield, J.F. and Nealson, K.H. (eds.), Geomicrobiology: Interactions Between Microbes and Minerals, Mineralogical Society of America, Reviews in Mineralogy 35, 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stal, L.J., van Gemerden, H. and W.E. Krumbein. (1985) Structure and development of a benthic microbial mat. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 31, 111–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steneck, R. S., Miller, T.E., Reid, R. P. and Macintyre, I.G. (1998) Ecological controls on stromatolite development in a modern reef environment: a test of the ecological refuge paradigm, Carbonates and Evaporites 13, 48–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stolz, J.F, Feinstein, T.N., Salsi, J. and Reid, R.P. (2001, in press) Microbial role in sedimentation and lithification in a modern marine stromatolite: a TEM perspective, American Mineralogist 86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolz, J.F. (2002) Structure in marine biofilms, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M., and Zavarzin, G.A. (eds), Fossils and Recent Biofilms-a natural history of life on Earth, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. xx-xx.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Gemerden, H. (1993) Microbial mats: a joint venture, Marine Geology 113, 3–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visscher, P.T., Gritzer, R.F. and Leadbetter, E.R. (1999) Low-molecular weight sulfonates: a major substrate for sulfate reducers in marine microbial mats, Applied and Environmental Microbiology 65, 3272–3278.

    Google Scholar 

  • Visscher, P.T., Hoeft, S.E., Surgeon, T.M.L., Rogers, D.R., Bebout, B.M., Thompson, J.S. Jr., Reid, R.P. (2001) Microelectrode measurements in stromatolites: unraveling the Earth’s past? in Taillefert, M., and Rozan, T. (eds.), ACS Symposium Series 220, Environmental Electrochemical Analyses of Trace Metal Biogeochemistry (in press).

    Google Scholar 

  • Visscher, P.T., Reid, R.P. and Bebout, B.M. (2000) Microscale observations of sulfate reduction: correlation of microbial activity with lithified micritic laminae in modern marine stromatolites, Geology 28, 919–922.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Visscher, P.T., Reid, R.P., Bebout, B.M., Hoeft, S.E., Macintyre, I.G. and Thompson, J.Jr. (1998) Formation of lithified micritic laminae in modern marine stromatolites (Bahamas): the role of sulfur cycling, American Mineralogist 83, 1482–1491.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, M.R. (1983) Archean stromatolites: evidence of the earth’s earliest benthos. In: Schopf, J.W., (ed.), Earth’s Earliest Biosphere, Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., pp. 187–213.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walter, M.R. (1994) Stromatolites: the main geological source of information on the evolution of the early benthos, in Bengtson, S. (ed.), Early Life on Earth, Nobel Symposium 84, 270–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yallop M.L., De Winder B. and Paterson, D.M. (1994) Microbially mediated processes in tide influenced deposits and their importance in stabilization and diagenesis of sediments: Texel survey, in Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M. and Stal, L.J. (eds.), Biostabilization of Sediments, Bibliotheks und Informationssystem der Universitaet Oldenburg, Oldenburg, pp. 327–338.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL, 33149, USA

    Pamela Reid & C. D. Dupraz

  2. University of Connecticut, 1084 Shennecosset Road, Groton, CT, 06340, USA

    P. T. Visscher

  3. University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    D. Y. Sumner

Authors
  1. Pamela Reid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. C. D. Dupraz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. P. T. Visscher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. D. Y. Sumner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICBM, Carl von Ossietzky University Olgenburg, Germany

    Wolfgang Elisabeth Krumbein

  2. Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK

    David Maxwell Paterson

  3. Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Science, Moscow, Russia

    Georgii Aleksandrovich Zavarzin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Reid, P., Dupraz, C.D., Visscher, P.T., Sumner, D.Y. (2003). Microbial Processes Forming Marine Stromatolites. In: Krumbein, W.E., Paterson, D.M., Zavarzin, G.A. (eds) Fossil and Recent Biofilms. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0193-8_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-481-6412-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0193-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation