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Cited by 78Paleontology and Stratigraphy of FossilsGeological formations and processesGeochemistry and Elemental Analysis

Covariance of microfossil assemblages and microbialite textures across an upper Mesoproterozoic carbonate platform

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KNOLL, ANDREW H., WÖRNDLE, SARAH, KAH, LINDA C.·2013·Palaios
DOI 10.2110/palo.2013.p13-005r
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Abstract

Abstract Early diagenetic chert nodules and beds in the upper Mesoproterozoic Angmaat (formerly Society Cliffs) Formation, Baffin and Bylot islands, preserve microfossils and primary petrofabrics that record microbial mat deposition and lithification across a range of peritidal carbonate environments. Five distinct microfossil assemblages document the distribution of mat-building and mat-dwelling populations across a gradient from restricted, frequently exposed flats to more persistently subaqueous environments. Mats built primarily by thin filamentous or coccoidal cyanobacteria give way to a series of more robust forms that show increasing assemblage diversity with decreasing evidence of subaerial exposure. Distinct fabric elements are associated with each microbial assemblage, and aspects of these petrofabrics are recognizably preserved within unsilicified carbonate in the same beds. These include some features that are distinctly geologic in nature (e.g., seafloor cements) and others that reflect microbial growth and decomposition (e.g., tufted microbialites). A particularly distinctive, micronodular fabric is here interpreted as carbonate infilling of primary voids within microbial mat structures. Such structures mark the co-occurrence of cyanobacterial photosynthesis that produced oxygen gas, filamentous mat builders that imparted the coherence necessary to trap gas bubbles, elevated carbonate saturation required to preserve void fabrics via penecontemporaneous cementation, and a relative paucity of detrital sediment that would have inhibited mat growth. Petrofabrics preserved in Angmaat samples are widespread in upper Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic carbonate successions but are rare thereafter, perhaps recording, at least in part, the declining carbonate saturation state of seawater. Covariation of microfossil assemblages with petrofabrics in both silicified and unsilicified portions of carbonate beds supports hypotheses that link stromatolite microstructure to the composition and diversity of mat communities.

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  • Filamentous microfossils suggest red algae rhodophytes in carbonates up to 1200 Ma old and potential green algae chlorophytes as old as 1800 Ma.

    “where filamentous microfossils suggest red algae rhodophytes in carbonates up to 1200 Ma old (Butterfield, 2000;Knoll et al., 2013) and potential green algae chlorophytes as old as 1800 Ma”

    From Trace elements at the intersection of marine biological and geochemical evolution (2016) · cites this paper as Knoll et al., 2013

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Authors
KNOLL, A. H., WÖRNDLE, S., & KAH, L. C.
Affiliations
  • Lyon 1 Université (FR)
  • University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
ORCID
Venue
Palaios
Publisher
Society for Sedimentary Geology
Published
2013-07-01
Volume
28
Issue
7
Pages
453-470
ISSN
  • 0883-1351 (ISSN-L)
  • 1938-5323
DOI
10.2110/palo.2013.p13-005r
OpenAlex
W2155517858
Cited by
78
References
69
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
FWCI
4.99
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Palaios (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Earth-Surface Processes › Geological formations and processes
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
Keywords
microbialites, petrofabric, stromatolites, cyanobacteria, early diagenesis, chert nodules, peritidal environments, carbonate saturation state, filamentous cyanobacteria

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