Metamorphic evolution of carbonate-hosted microbial biosignatures
Abstract
Microbial biosignature assemblages captured within mineral substrates experience extreme pressures (P) and temperatures (T) during rock burial and metamorphism. We subjected natural microbial biofilms hosted within thermal spring carbonate to six high pressure, high temperature (HPHT) conditions spanning 500 and 800 MPa and 200 to 550 °C, to investigate the initial petrographic transformation of organic and inorganic phases. We find biogenic and amorphous silica mineralises increasingly mature organic matter (OM) as temperature and pressure increase, with OM expelled from recrystallised calcite at the highest HPHT, captured within a quartz phase. Sulfur globules associated with microbial filaments persist across all HPHT conditions in association with microbially-derived kerogen. These data demonstrate how microbial material captured within chemically-precipitated sediments petrographically evolves in high grade rocks during their first stages of transformation.
Citation
Cousins , C R , Mikhail , S , Foucher , F , Stelle , A & Westall , F 2020 , ' Metamorphic evolution of carbonate-hosted microbial biosignatures ' , Geochemical Perspectives Letters , vol. 12 , pp. 40-45 . https://doi.org/10.7185/geochemlet.2002
Publication
Geochemical Perspectives Letters
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2410-339XType
Journal article
Description
This work was funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellowship. FF and FW acknowledge funding from the CNRS and CNES.Collections
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