Speleothems in a wave-cut notch, Cayman Brac, British West Indies: The integrated product of subaerial precipitation, dissolution, and microbes

Jones, Brian

doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.09.003

Cited by 29 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This indicates that the filaments are composed of carbon (likely organic matter) and not replaced by calcite. Noting that these pool fingers were active in the cave prior to sampling and treatment, we conclude that the filaments must be microbial filaments, confirming the interpretation of Melim et al (2008), Jones (2009Jones ( , 2010Jones ( , 2011, Northup et al (2011), and Miller et al (2012, 2014 that reticulated filaments are an unknown microbe. Ongoing research by our team is working to identify this microbe.…”

Section: Reticulated Filamentssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Additional examples have since been reported from a variety of subsurface environments. Jones (2009Jones ( , 2010Jones ( , 2011 reported on calcitized examples from cave pearls, terrestrial oncoids, and stalactites from the Cayman Islands. Northup et al (2011) identified reticulated filaments from a copper-silicate stalactite in a Hawaiian lava cave.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Melim¹,

Northup²,

Spilde³

et al. 2015

JCKS

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Previous reports of reticulated filaments, an unknown microbe, document that they are ubiquitous in subsurface environments, including limestone caves, lava tubes, and even granite tunnels. Although initial reports of fossil reticulated filaments described preserved organic matter, additional instances involve replacement by calcite, Mn-oxides, silica, or copper silicates. We report on living reticulated filaments found in the limestone Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhö hle Cave System, Hesse, Germany. Samples from soft pool-fingers, pool-bottom clays, and clay-coated rocks along the flow path of incoming water all contain living reticulated filaments associated with abundant biofilm. Most of the reticulated filaments are approximately 0.5 mm in diameter, reach lengths between 150 and 200 mm, and have irregular chambers with spines, a newly identified morphological variant. EDX of these filaments confirms an organic composition not replaced by minerals. They are the dominant visible microbial form in these biofilms, providing hope that they can be isolated and identified.

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Section: Reticulated Filamentssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Melim¹,

Northup²,

Spilde³

et al. 2015

JCKS

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“…15H to L) appearance. Reticulate coatings, characterized by their mesh-like structure and variable elemental contents (for example, Si, Mg, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, Cl and Mn), are known from hot spring deposits in the African Rift Valley (Casanova & Renaut, 1987;Casanova, 1994;Jones & Renaut, 1996a,c), hot spring deposits in New Zealand (McKenzie et al, 2001;Jones et al, 2003), in scale that lines pipes in the geothermal systems of Iceland (Gunnlaugsson & Einarsson, 1989;Kristmannsdottir et al, 1989;Sverrisdottir et al, 1992), submarine hot springs in Iceland (Geptner et al, 2002) and in speleothems found in wave-cut notches (Jones, 2010) and caves (L eveill e et al, 2000a,b;Polyak & G€ uven, 2000Polyak & G€ uven, , 2004. Their precise mineralogy is difficult to establish because they form such thin coatings that it is generally impossible to extract them for XRD analysis and most appear non-crystalline with microscale variations in element concentrations.…”

Section: Non-crystalline Silicon-magnesium-iron Precipitatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signatures of biologically influenced CaCo₃ and Mg–Fe silicate precipitation in hot springs: Case study from the Ruidian geothermal area, western Yunnan Province, China

Jones

Peng

2013

Sedimentology

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Hot springs at Gongxiaoshe and Zhuyuan (maximum temperatures of 73 to 84°C, respectively) are characterized by deposits formed of calcite, aragonite, non‐crystalline Si–Mg–Fe deposits, and minor amounts of barite and gypsum. The deposits at Gongxiaoshe are formed largely of alternating calcite and aragonite laminae, whereas those at Zhuyuan are formed largely of calcite. The calcite is in the form of: (i) pseudodendrites that grew as sub‐crystals stacked upon each other; and (ii) unattached euhedral and incompletely formed dodecahedral and rhombohedral crystals. Amorphous CaCO3, formed of nanoparticles <1 μm long, is common in some of the Zhuyuan deposits, but minor in the Gongxiaoshe deposits. The morphologically diverse arrays of aragonite crystals that lie parallel to bedding were not nucleated on a growth surface. Many substrates in these deposits are covered with reticulate coatings that are formed largely of Si and Mg with minor Fe and micro‐granular coatings that are formed largely of Si and Fe. Biofilms, with their extracellular polymeric substances, and microbes are common at both springs. The compositionally and crystallographically diverse precipitates at these two springs are attributed to a biologically influenced model with precipitation taking place in micro‐domains that developed in the extracellular polymeric substances. According to this model, precipitation varied at the micron‐scale influenced by the elemental concentrations that developed in the hydrogel of extracellular polymeric substances. Critically, the very low preservation potential of the extracellular polymeric substance and its formative microbes means that the precipitates will rapidly lose evidence of their biotic origin. The compositional diversity of the precipitates, the crystallographic diversity of the calcite and aragonite with numerous incompletely formed crystals, and local concentrations of Si, Mg and Fe may, however, serve as proxies of that biologically influenced precipitation.

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“…Filaments composed of minerals have been interpreted as mineralcoated filamentous microbes in a range of environments including hydrothermal veins, volcanic settings, base-metal deposits, and oxidizing ore bodies (Cady and Farmer, 1996;Hofmann and Farmer, 2000;Banfield et al, 2001;Jones et al, 2001;Hofmann et al, 2008;Jones, 2010;Preston et al, 2011;Peng and Jones, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…No spiral-shaped features like these were identified in the Iron Mountain gossan, and if they had been, they would have been considered separately from the long, straight filamentous shapes described from this study. (f) Variable preservation: Since microbial communities are in a constant state of flux between living and degrading cells, variable preservation of microbes should be anticipated in the rock record, with a range ''from life-like, to degraded, to markedly decomposed, to biologically nondescript'' ( Jones et al, 2001;Schopf et al, 2007;Jones, 2010;Peng and Jones, 2012). In the Iron Mountain gossan, microbial biosignature preservation ranges from bare microbial filaments to HFO filaments with central lumina, to HFO filaments with mineral-filled central cores, and to HFO filaments embedded in mineral masses.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Preserved Filamentous Microbial Biosignatures in the Brick Flat Gossan, Iron Mountain, California

et al. 2015

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A variety of actively precipitating mineral environments preserve morphological evidence of microbial biosignatures. One such environment with preserved microbial biosignatures is the oxidized portion of a massive sulfide deposit, or gossan, such as that at Iron Mountain, California. This gossan may serve as a mineralogical analogue to some ancient martian environments due to the presence of oxidized iron and sulfate species, and minerals that only form in acidic aqueous conditions, in both environments. Evaluating the potential biogenicity of cryptic textures in such martian gossans requires an understanding of how microbial textures form biosignatures on Earth. The iron-oxide-dominated composition and morphology of terrestrial, nonbranching filamentous microbial biosignatures may be distinctive of the underlying formation and preservation processes.The Iron Mountain gossan consists primarily of ferric oxide (hematite), hydrous ferric oxide (HFO, predominantly goethite), and jarosite group minerals, categorized into in situ gossan, and remobilized iron deposits. We interpret HFO filaments, found in both gossan types, as HFO-mineralized microbial filaments based in part on (1) the presence of preserved central filament lumina in smooth HFO mineral filaments that are likely molds of microbial filaments, (2) mineral filament formation in actively precipitating iron-oxide environments, (3) high degrees of mineral filament bending consistent with a flexible microbial filament template, and (4) the presence of bare microbial filaments on gossan rocks. Individual HFO filaments are below the resolution of the Mars Curiosity and Mars 2020 rover cameras, but sinuous filaments forming macroscopic matlike textures are resolvable. If present on Mars, available cameras may resolve these features identified as similar to terrestrial HFO filaments and allow subsequent evaluation for their biogenicity by synthesizing geochemical, mineralogical, and morphological analyses. Sinuous biogenic filaments could be preserved on Mars in an iron-rich environment analogous to Iron Mountain, with the Pahrump Hills region and Hematite Ridge in Gale Crater as tentative possibilities.

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Speleothems in a wave-cut notch, Cayman Brac, British West Indies: The integrated product of subaerial precipitation, dissolution, and microbes

Cited by 29 publications

References 52 publications

Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Signatures of biologically influenced CaCo₃ and Mg–Fe silicate precipitation in hot springs: Case study from the Ruidian geothermal area, western Yunnan Province, China

Preserved Filamentous Microbial Biosignatures in the Brick Flat Gossan, Iron Mountain, California

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Speleothems in a wave-cut notch, Cayman Brac, British West Indies: The integrated product of subaerial precipitation, dissolution, and microbes

Cited by 29 publications

References 52 publications

Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Update: Living Reticulated Filaments from Herbstlabyrinth-Adventhöhle Cave System, Germany

Signatures of biologically influenced CaCo3 and Mg–Fe silicate precipitation in hot springs: Case study from the Ruidian geothermal area, western Yunnan Province, China

Preserved Filamentous Microbial Biosignatures in the Brick Flat Gossan, Iron Mountain, California

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Signatures of biologically influenced CaCo₃ and Mg–Fe silicate precipitation in hot springs: Case study from the Ruidian geothermal area, western Yunnan Province, China