Title :

Iron minerals within specific microfossil morphospecies of the 1.88 Ga Gunflint Formation

Author(s) :

Lepot, Kevin [Auteur]
Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187 [LOG]
Addad, Ahmed [Auteur]
Unité Matériaux et Transformations - UMR 8207 [UMET]
Knoll, Andrew H. [Auteur]
Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology [Cambridge] [OEB]
Wang, Jian [Auteur]
University of Saskatchewan [Saskatoon, Canada] [U of S]
Troadec, david [Auteur]
Institut d’Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie - UMR 8520 [IEMN]
Béché, Armand [Auteur]
Electron Microscopy for Materials Science - EMAT (Antwerp, Belgium)
Javaux, Emmanuelle J. [Auteur]
Département de Géologie [Liège]

Journal title :

Nature communications

Volume number :

8

Pages :

14890

Publisher :

Nature Publishing Group

Publication date :

2017

ISSN :

2041-1723

HAL domain(s) :

Planète et Univers [physics]

English abstract : [en]

Problematic microfossils dominate the palaeontological record between the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago (Ga) and the last Palaeoproterozoic iron formations, deposited 500-600 million years later. These fossils ...
Show more >Problematic microfossils dominate the palaeontological record between the Great Oxidation Event 2.4 billion years ago (Ga) and the last Palaeoproterozoic iron formations, deposited 500-600 million years later. These fossils are often associated with iron-rich sedimentary rocks, but their affinities, metabolism, and, hence, their contributions to Earth surface oxidation and Fe deposition remain unknown. Here we show that specific microfossil populations of the 1.88 Ga Gunflint Iron Formation contain Fe-silicate and Fe-carbonate nanocrystal concentrations in cell interiors. Fe minerals are absent in/on all organically preserved cell walls. These features are consistent with in vivo intracellular Fe biomineralization, with subsequent in situ recrystallization, but contrast with known patterns of post-mortem Fe mineralization. The Gunflint populations that display relatively large cells (thick-walled spheres, filament-forming rods) and intra-microfossil Fe minerals are consistent with oxygenic photosynthesizers but not with other Fe-mineralizing microorganisms studied so far. Fe biomineralization may have protected oxygenic photosynthesizers against Fe<SUP>2+</SUP> toxicity during the Palaeoproterozoic.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Peer reviewed article :

Oui

Audience :

Internationale

Popular science :

Non

Administrative institution(s) :

Université de Lille
ISEN
Univ. Valenciennes
ENSCL
CNRS
INRA
Institut Catholique Lille
Centrale Lille
Univ. Littoral Côte d’Opale

Collections :

• Institut d'Électronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie (IEMN) - UMR 8520
• Laboratoire d'Océanologie et de Géosciences (LOG) - UMR 8187
• Unité Matériaux et Transformations (UMET) - UMR 8207

Submission date :

2019-05-16T17:21:23Z
2023-10-18T07:58:49Z