Search results for "Stromatolite"

Discrimination between effects induced by microbial activity and water-rock interactions under hydrothermal conditions according to REE behaviour

2013

AbstractRare earth elements (REE) were investigated in siliceous stromatolites forming in the Specchio di Venere Lake on Pantelleria Island. Chondrite-normalised patterns show significant La enrichments and Eu depletions suggesting that fluids involved in stromatolite growth experienced strong rock-water interactions under hydrothermal conditions. At the same time, enrichments in heavy REE (HREE) with respect to intermediate REE (MREE) suggest that hydrothermal fluids interacted with microbial mats during deposition of the stromatolites. The above-mentioned features suggest that rock-water interactions and bacterial activity were simultaneously recorded in the REE patterns of stromatolites,…

Etude expérimentale de la lamination des stromatolithes à Rivularia haematites en climat tempéré: édification des lamines micritiques

1997

The lamination of Rivularia haematites stromatolites (D.C.) Agardh was studied experimentally for 7 years. Micritic laminae are found to form in three stages: biological formation of dark laminae during the wet season, microsparitic calcification of these laminae in the form of clearly individualized polycrystalline aggregates and, finally, micritization of the latter by bacterial action. These three stages develop over 2 to 3 years. The occurrence of transverse, longitudinal and circular microfibrils in the outer sheath is thought to explain the nucleation and the three-dimensional structure of the microsparitic crystals of the dark laminae and of the polycrystalline aggregates.

Carbonate stromatolites from a Messinian hypersaline setting in the Caltanissetta Basin, Sicily: petrographic evidence of microbial activity and rela…

2010

Lower Messinian stromatolites of the Calcare di Base Formation at Sutera in Sicily record periods of low sea-level, strong evaporation and elevated salinity, thought to be associated with the onset of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Overlying aragonitic limestones were precipitated in normal to slightly evaporative conditions, occasionally influenced by an influx of meteoric water. Evidence of bacterial involvement in carbonate formation is recorded in three dolomite-rich stromatolite beds in the lower portion of the section that contain low domes with irregular crinkly millimetre-scale lamination and small fenestrae. The dominant microfabrics are: (i) peloidal and clotted dolomicrite with c…

The genesis of actively growing siliceous stromatolites: Evidence from Lake Specchio di Venere, Pantelleria Island, Italy

2010

This study documents the attributes of siliceous stromatolites growing in the Lake Specchio di Venere, on the volcanic island of Pantelleria, Italy, in a setting characterized by very shallow cold waters and pools and by scattered hydrothermal activity, which exhales mainly CO2, at emission point temperatures of 34 to 58 °C. The saturation indexes indicate that the lake waters are saturated with respect to tridymite, cristobalite, chalcedony and quartz, and slightly undersaturated with respect to amorphous silica. Common roughly laminated and poorly lithified stromatolites show scanning electron microscope (SEM) evidence for silicified microbial mat structures, including biofilms, filamento…

Biomineralization events in Recent volcanic and sedimentary settings: textural features and isotope signatures.

2008

The behavior of Rare-Earth Elements, Zr and Hf during biologically-mediated deposition of silica-stromatolites and carbonate-rich microbial mats

2015

Abstract Venere Lake, in the Pantelleria Island thermal system (Central Mediterranean Sea) consists of a mix of seawater and hydrothermal volcanic fluids containing high levels of dissolved SiO 2 . Close to the lake's thermal springs, siliceous stromatolites are deposed under high bacterial activity conditions whereas roughly interlaminated Ca-carbonates and microbial mats are widely scattered in the lake. The dissolved REE speciation in lake waters is dominated by [REE(CO 3 ) 2 ] − , [REE(CO 3 )] + and [REE(H 3 SiO 4 )] 2 + complexes. On the contrary the most abundant Zr and Hf species are hydroxyl- and fluoride-complexes. The behavior of REE Zr and Hf in the Venere lake waters is controll…