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Are Cyanobacterial Mats Precursors of Stromatolites?

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STROMATOLITES: Interaction of Microbes with Sediments

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 18))

Abstract

Since James Hutton established the principle of uniformitarism in 1788, direct comparisons between ancient and present processes have been key elements in geological and paleontological observations. Lyell and Darwin successfully applied uniformitarism using reasoning and inference to obtain the missing data from incomplete evidence (Gould, 1983). This actualistic approach has also permeated the study of stromatolites and their living analogs, modern microbial mats. As early as 1908, Kalkowsky (1908), who coined the term stromatolites, recognized not only the organic nature of stromatolites, but also the participation of microbial life in their construction (Riding, 2008, and references therein), as he wrote: ‘stromatolites have a fine more or less even layered fabric.…and the participation of simple plants gave rise to limestone precipitation’ (translation from Prof. J. Paul, 2008). The structural similarity between algal mats and intertidal stromatolites was documented since the beginning of the twentieth century; Walcott (1914) even presumed the participation of cyanobacteria by then (Awramik and Grey, 2005). The early observations of Black (1933) also included the participation of cyanobacteria in the modern marine microbialites from the Bahamas. The precipitation of calcium carbonate, erosive boring, and binding of sediments were identified as main processes in these algal carbonates (Fritsch, 1945; Pettijohn, 1957; Sharp, 1970). Later Logan et al. (1964) proposed a popular general classification system to group the main morphologies found in ‘algal stromatolites’ when he analyzed recent stromatolites from Shark Bay in Australia.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the expert and insightful and constructive comments from the reviewers (Alain Préat, Jesse Dillon, and an anonymous reviewer). The authors are especially grateful to the editor, Prof. Vinod C. Tewari for his kind invitation and his constant encouragement, kindness, and patience. This work was funded by project PROMEP-103-5/07/2523 (SEP) and by Research Project CONACyT-P2-83500-CB to E. Chacón, and a fellowship (to E. Berrendero) from the Ministerio de Asustos Exteriores y de Cooperación, Spain.

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  1. Facultad de Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Carretera Cerro Prieto Km 8 Linares, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León, 67700, Mexico

    Chacón B. Elizabeth

  2. Laboratorio de Ficología, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, Apdo. Postal 70-620, Ciudad Universitaria Copilco, Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico

    Esther Berrendero Gómez & Gustavo Montejano

  3. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, Avenida de las Ciencias S/N Col, Juriquilla, Querétaro, 76230, Mexico

    Juan M. Malda Barrera & Marco A. Sanchez-Ramos

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Correspondence to Chacón B. Elizabeth .

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  1. , Sedimentology Group, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, General Mahadeo Singh Road 33, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    Vinod Tewari

  2. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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Elizabeth, C.B., Gómez, E.B., Montejano, G., Barrera, J.M.M., Sanchez-Ramos, M.A. (2011). Are Cyanobacterial Mats Precursors of Stromatolites?. In: Tewari, V., Seckbach, J. (eds) STROMATOLITES: Interaction of Microbes with Sediments. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 18. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0397-1_14

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