Cited by 113Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsOrigins and Evolution of LifePaleontology and Evolutionary Biology

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Archean tufted microbial mats and the Great Oxidation Event: new insights into an ancient problem

Flannery, D. T., Walter, M. R.·2012·Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

DOI 10.1080/08120099.2011.607849

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Abstract

The macroscopic fossil record of the Archean consists solely of stromatolites and other microbialites, which seldom offer compelling clues to the identities of the organisms that formed them. Tufted microbial mats are an exception because their formation is known to require a suite of morphological and behavioural characteristics from which the behavioural and biological affinities of early microbialite-constructing microbes can be inferred. Here, the oldest yet reported convincing fossil tufted microbial mats are described and discussed in the context of other ancient and modern examples. Significantly, cyanobacteria dominate all known modern occurrences and may also have been the builders of ancient examples, the oldest of which predate by several hundred million years the earliest convincing cyanobacterial microfossils and most geochemical evidence for an oxygenated atmosphere.

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Authors: Flannery, D. T., & Walter, M. R.
Affiliations: UNSW Sydney (AU)
Corresponding author: Flannery, D. T.
ORCID: Flannery, D. T.
Venue: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Published: 2012-02
Volume: 59
Issue: 1
Pages: 1-11
ISSN: 0812-0099 (ISSN-L)
1440-0952
DOI: 10.1080/08120099.2011.607849
OpenAlex: W2015336292
Cited by: 113
References: 61
Citations by year: 2026: 5 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 6
FWCI: 5.76
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Australian Journal of Earth Sciences (publishedVersion)
Funders: University of New South Wales
Australian Research Council
Topics: Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
Keywords: Archean, Great Oxidation Event, stromatolites, microbialites, cyanobacteria

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Archean tufted microbial mats and the Great Oxidation Event: new insights into an ancient problem

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