Assessing the biological contribution to microbialite growth and morphogenesis utilizing lipid biomarkers.

BEELER, S.; BRADLEY, A.; GOMEZ, F.J.

San Francisco

Congreso; American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 12th-16th, San Francisco, USA.; 2016

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 12th-16th, San Francisco, USA.

Microbialites are sedimentary structures formed under theinfluence of microbial processes. For much of Earth historythese structures are among the best records of microbial lifeand are among the oldest purported evidence for life onEarth. Further, because microbialites provide macroscopicevidence for microbial processes they have been proposedas a target in astrobiological investigations. However, theability to utilize microbialites to inform us about life onancient Earth and potentially other planets is complicated byan understanding of the controls on the morphogenesis ofthese structures. We utilized the abundance and compoundspecific isotopic values of lipid biomarkers to investigate therole of microbial communities in the morphogenesis ofactively forming microbialites of Laguna Negra, Argentina.