Field trip guide-book of the 6th Regional Symposium of the International Fossil Algae Association (original) (raw)
Microbial deposits in upper Miocene carbonates, Mallorca, Spain
The Santanyí Limestone, a 30–35-m thick upper Miocene limestone succession cropping out in Mallorca, contains abundant microbialite deposits, the shape, microstructure and texture of which was controlled by environmental factors: depth, energy and salinity. Three main types of microbialites are distinguished: (1) domed (DNOS) and stratiform, mostly undulate (UNOS) non-oolitic stromatolites, (2) undulate oolitic laminites (UOL) and (3) domed-oolitic thrombolites (DOTs). Based on lithofacies associations and occurrence of microbialite types, the Santanyí Limestone succession is subdivided into five stratigraphic units (I to V) separated by sharp surfaces. Within units II, III and V, the vertical evolution of microbialites was induced by changes in accommodation space/depth: (1) intertidal/very-shallow subtidal conditions at the base were induced by flooding over a wide area, (2) continued sea-level rise caused submergence to subtidal conditions, and (3) a significant bathymetric decrease created the sharp surface bounding these units. In units II and III, NOS accumulated in variable energy and depth conditions, as buildups with thick, somewhat discontinuous and mostly non-isopachous lamination, surrounded by oolitic grainstones with wave and current structures and oolitic intraclasts. In contrast, thin and generally regular and smooth lamination of NOS in unit V suggests, along with the absence of oolite grainstones and macrobiota, calm and restricted, maybe more saline, conditions. UOL, consisting of oolitic layers separated by thin micritic laminae, developed adjacent to NOS in units II and III and to DOT at the lower part of unit III, in shallow-water and low-energy conditions. Both ooids andmicrite laminae have evidence for biogenesis. Micritized ooids containing microbial remains are common. Micritic laminae in UOL and the dark micritic laminae in NOS are thought to represent bacterially enhanced calcite precipitation and lithification during periods of low sedimentation. Oolitic thrombolites containing macrobiota are only present in unit III. They represent deeper and openmarine conditions affected by high-energy events, in which microbially mediated precipitation favoured microbialite accretion and lithification.
Sedimentary Geology, 1999
Methane-derived carbonate rocks (Lucina limestone and Marmorito limestone) crop out in Monferrato (NW Italy) and represent one of the first described examples of rocks produced at fossil cold seeps. These rocks, of Miocene age, consist of strongly carbonate-cemented siliciclastic sediments ranging in grain size from mud to coarse sand. The methane-related origin of Monferrato carbonates is based on: (a) outcrop-scale evidence: patchiness of cementation, chemosymbiotic fossil communities, presence of a network of polyphase carbonate-filled veins not related to tectonics; (b) isotope geochemistry: very depleted δ 13 C values, as low as 50‰ PDB; (c) peculiar petrographic features. Diverse microbial communities have been observed in present-day cold seeps. These communities include sulphate-reducing, sulphur-oxidizing and methane-oxidizing bacteria. The present work is focused on the identification and description of fossil evidence of such microbial activity in the Monferrato carbonates. Examples of fossilization of microbial structures are probably represented by pyritic rods and dolomite tubes referable to sulphur-oxidizing and to unspecified bacteria, respectively. Less direct but more abundant evidence has been found through petrographic and SEM studies of seep carbonates. Many features point to the presence of organic clumps or mats capable of trapping sediment and promoting carbonate precipitation: microcrystalline calcite peloids; dolomite crystals with irregular hollow cores; dolomite spheroids with dumbbell-shaped cores; laminated internal sediments lining cavities completely. All these features are interpreted to result from bacterially mediated, sedimentary and diagenetic processes and can therefore be considered as an additional evidence of ancient methane seeps. : S 0 0 3 7 -0 7 3 8 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 4 4 -5
The Valdorria carbonate platform, in northern Spain, features a well-preserved and continuous outcrop of a Bashkirian platform to basin transect. During the Asatauian (late Bashkirian), the platform growth changed gradually from a progradational to an aggradational mode, recording 10 most likely short-eccentricity-controlled cyclothems. The facies of the platform-top and slope have been mapped, and the architecture of each cyclothem schematically reconstructed. The distribution of microbial carbonates (microbially mediated precipitates), skeletal (grazers/burrowers, corals/filter feeders, algae, foraminifera, Osagia-like oncoids and Thartarella-Terebella worm tubes) and non-skeletal grains (faecal pellets) has been quantified for the transgressiveregressive periods of deposition (transgressive, maximum flooding, early and late regressive intervals) of each cyclothem. This study shows that the distribution of microbial carbonates, skeletal and non-skeletal grains along a carbonate platform transect is variable through time and mainly governed by a set of measurable interconnected factors regulating the local palaeoenvironments: the water depth and the wave energy (facies) along the platform profile (inner, outer, break, slope) during periods of sea-level fluctuations (transgressive to regressive intervals of deposition). Auloporid corals, siliceous sponges, phylloid algae and Osagia-like oncoids are characteristic of a low-energy environment situated from estimated palaeo-water depths of 25 to 80 metres below sea level (mbsl onward) that formed in the outer platform during the maximum-flooding intervals. Anthracoporella-Archaeolithoporella boundstone is characteristic of the moderate-energy environments created in the horizontal inner-platform during the transgressive intervals. Microbially mediated precipitates are reliable indicators of the slope and Masloviporidium(?) indicator of low-energy environments of the upper slope. On the platform-top, Ungdarella and Donezella are more abundant during the early regressive intervals than during any other interval. Stacheoids are mainly present in the water depth range of 10 to 60 mbsl, tournayellids from 15 to 35 mbsl and archaediscids from 15 to 75 mbsl, all in low-to moderate-energy conditions. Rugose corals are common in the water depth range of 5 to 35 mbsl, either during the transition from the early to the late regressive intervals, as solitary forms or forming boundstone, or during periods of higher sea-level stand, as solitary forms in floatstone. Fenestellids, fistuliporids and trilobites occur mainly in the slope, but are also common in the platform top during the maximum flooding and/or the early regressive intervals. Archaeolithoporella is a reliable indicator of the platform top deposits, but its abundance is closely linked to the presence of adequate substrates. A high abundance in the assemblage of gastropods, endothyrids, palaeotextulariids, bradyinids and fusulinids characterizes the platform top shallow-water coated-grain grainstones formed under high-energy currents during the late regressive intervals. Tetrataxids act as encrusters on microbial precipitates of the slope or on phylloid algae and Archaeolithoporella of the platform top, but are also observed as nuclei of coated grains. Brachiopods are more abundant in low-to moderateenergy and 35 to 55 mbsl environments that prevailed during the transgressive intervals. Faecal pellets were commonly observed in low-energy environments, from 50 to 325 mbsl, at the platform break and in the slope, and the same applies for Thartarella-Terebella worm tubes that are virtually absent in high-energy deposits. Finally, crinoids, lasiodiscids and tuberitinids are randomly distributed and are not indicative of any specific environment.
Carbonate Crystals Precipitated by Freshwater Bacteria and Their Use as a Limestone Consolidant
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 2009
Bacterial carbonate precipitation is known to be a natural phenomenon associated with a wide range of bacterial species. Recently, the ability of bacteria to produce carbonates has been studied for its value in the conservation of limestone monuments and concrete. This paper describes investigations of carbonate crystals precipitated by freshwater bacteria by means of histological (Loeffler's methylene blue and alcian blue-periodic acid-Schiff stain) and fluorescence (CTC [5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride]) stains, determination of cell viability inside carbonate crystals, and pore size reduction in limestone by image analysis. Carbonate crystals were found to be composed of bacteria embedded in a matrix of neutral and acid polysaccharides. Cell viability inside the carbonate crystals decreased with time. On stone, bacteria were found to form carbonate crystals, with only a few bacteria remaining as isolated cells or as cell aggregates. Pore size was reduced by about 50%...
Sedimentology, 1999
Within the regressive sequence (eustatic sea-level fall) that characterizes the French Southern Jura carbonate platform during the Kimmeridgian, a succession of three facies (called here units 1–3) may be observed in a palaeolagoon near Orbagnoux. Unit 1 is a shallow-water, intensely burrowed, carbonate deposit; unit 2 (consisting of laminated, organic matter-rich carbonate) represents a shallow lagoonal environment, prone to stromatolite development and organic matter accumulation; unit 3 consists of platy limestones almost devoid of identifiable biota. Trace element distributions indicate that depositional and early diagenetic conditions must have been reducing during deposition of unit 1 and, especially, unit 2, whereas they were much less reducing during deposition of unit 3. However, the latter does not contain body or trace fossils, with the exception of structures interpreted as calcified bacteria. The reasons why the apparently normal marine environment of unit 3 did not allow a normal biota to develop are explored and lead us to propose that: (i) unit 2 may be a Jurassic counterpart of modern kopara deposits (stromatolites of French Polynesian atolls); and (ii) unit 3 may be the result of palaeokopara reworking. This model invokes the extensive intervention of microbes in the formation of these carbonate deposits.
Processes of carbonate precipitation in modern microbial mats
Earth-science Reviews, 2009
Microbial mats are ecosystems that arguably greatly affected the conditions of the biosphere on Earth through geological time. These laminated organosedimentary systems, which date back to > 3.4 Ga bp, are characterized by high metabolic rates, and coupled to this, rapid cycling of major elements on very small (mm-µm) scales. The activity of the mat communities has changed Earth's redox conditions (i.e. oxidation state) through oxygen and hydrogen production. Interpretation of fossil microbial mats and their potential role in alteration of the Earth's geochemical environment is challenging because these mats are generally not well preserved. Preservation of microbial mats in the fossil record can be enhanced through carbonate precipitation, resulting in the formation of lithified mats, or microbialites. Several types of microbially-mediated mineralization can be distinguished, including biologically-induced and biologically influenced mineralization. Biologically-induced mineralization results from the interaction between biological activity and the environment. Biologically-influenced mineralization is defined as passive mineralization of organic matter (biogenic or abiogenic in origin), whose properties influence crystal morphology and composition. We propose to use the term organomineralization sensu lato as an umbrella term encompassing biologically influenced and biologically induced mineralization. Key components of organomineralization sensu lato are the "alkalinity" engine (microbial metabolism and environmental conditions impacting the calcium carbonate saturation index) and an organic matrix comprised of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which may provide a template for carbonate nucleation. Here we review the specific role of microbes and the EPS matrix in various mineralization processes and discuss examples of modern aquatic (freshwater, marine and hypersaline) and terrestrial microbialites.
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2012
Authigenic methane-derived carbonates hosted in upper Miocene slope sediments of the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (NW Italy) are studied by a multidisciplinary approach including petrography, stable oxygen and carbon isotopes of carbonates, as well as lipid biomarkers in order to explore the relationship between microbial activity and carbonate precipitation in the shallow subsurface. The studied rocks show a bed parallel geometry and are characterized by dolomitic intergranular cement, which is typified by positive δ 13 C values as high as + 6.2‰ VPDB. A striking feature of some dolomite beds is an intricate network of septarian-like cracks filled with both injected sediments and polyphasic carbonate cements. Prokaryotic molecular fossils in the dolomite beds comprise archaeol (δ 13 C: − 40‰ VPDB) and various bacterial dialkyl glycerol diethers (DAGEs; δ 13 C: − 30‰ VPDB), strongly suggesting that dolomite precipitation took place at the interface of the zones of archaeal methanogenesis and bacterial sulphate reduction. In contrast, extremely negative δ 13 C values of carbonate cements (as low as − 56.3‰ VPDB) and various archaeal and bacterial molecular fossils (e.g. pentamethylicosane (PMI): − 106‰ VPDB) are recorded in the crack-filling carbonate cements. These cements precipitated due to anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to sulphate reduction. We propose a scenario for the formation of the diagenetic beds, suggesting that carbonate precipitation was the result of three microbially-driven processes (sulphate reduction, methanogenesis, and, finally, anaerobic oxidation of methane). This unusual sequence was a consequence of a dynamic change of environmental geochemical conditions and fluid circulation patterns that prevailed in the ancient subseafloor during early diagenesis of the unconsolidated sediments. Anaerobic oxidation of methane, which usually predates methanogenesis during increasing burial, postdates methanogenesis in case of the septarian-like beds after the beds were affected by crack formation induced by overcritical pore pressure, allowing the ingress of sulphate-rich water from above and methane-rich water from below.
Experimental observations on fungal diagenesis of carbonate substrates
Journal of Geophysical Research, 2007
1] Carbonate substrates (dolomites and limestones) are susceptible to fungal attack that results in significant microbial diagenesis of these substrates. In a 15-day experimental study, fungi growing in Petri dishes from airborne spores attacked petrographic thin sections and chips prepared from the dolomites of Terwagne Formation (Viséan, Bocahut quarry at Avesnes-sur-Helpe, northern France) and limestones of the Morrone di Pacentro Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Italy). The analyses of the fungal material (samples of mycelia), thin sections and chips under optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy and stable isotopes (C and O) revealed an extensive fungally induced diagenesis. The results indicate strong diagenesis and biomineral neomorphism: neo-dolomite, glushinskite, weddellite, whewellite and possibly struvite, as well as intense substrate ''de-micritization'' and ''micritization'' with oxalates, grain bridging and cementation, open space filling, formation of intergranular and intragranular porosity, and permeability enhancement. Advanced stages of diagenesis were characterized by dissolution and replacement of original minerals by new substrates produced by fungal biomineralization. The formation of new substrates on the original attacked surfaces produced microscale stratification. Stable isotope analysis of fungal biomineralized material and of attacked and unattacked chip surfaces revealed marked differences in their isotopic signatures. The C and O isotopes of biomineralized material within the fungal mass were fractionated differently as compared to the signature measured in the original and unattacked surfaces. In sedimentary cycles, such microbially modified isotopic signature of carbonate substrates may be used to define microbial events, and consequently whether certain types of diagenesis were produced by microbial interaction. The finding of neo-dolomite formed during fungi-dolomite substrate interaction suggests the possibility of sedimentary dolomite recycling in a fungal microenvironment. The results of this experimental study confirm the significant role of fungi in reshaping carbonate substrates and forming new biominerals in the natural environment.
Sedimentary Geology, 2006
The Marmolada platform is characterized by striking globose masses ("evinosponges"), arranged in concentric bands, of fibrous calcite cements ranging in size from centimeters to several decimeters. The lithogenetic importance of these peculiar cements has been recognized in many Middle Triassic buildups of the Western Tethys. EDS microanalyses revealed that these fibrous cements contain 1-3 mol% of Mg and detectable amounts of Sr, over 1000 ppm, sometimes exceeding 10,000 ppm. The strontium geochemical signature in neomorphic calcite could reflect the replacement of an aragonitic carbonate precursor. The boundaries between the fibrous calcite bands are marked by alignments of microcrystalline aggregates of fluorapatite and/or dolomite. The presence of fluorapatite may indicate a depositional microenvironment eutrophic or rich in microbial communities. Epifluorescence analyses showed bright bands alternated to dark ones, confirming that organic matter remains occur within the studied cements and could have played a significant role in supporting the widespread syndepositional cementation. High magnification SEM observations on bright epifluorescent bands showed the presence of widespread, more or less spherical bodies ranging in size 100-300 nm. These bodies could represent the relicts of nannobacterial cells.