4.5 Article

ORGANOMINERALIZATION OF PROTO-DOLOMITE BY A PHOTOTROPHIC MICROBIAL MAT EXTRACELLULAR POLYMERIC SUBSTANCES: CONTROL OF CRYSTAL SIZE AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR CARBONATE DEPOSITIONAL SYSTEMS

Journal

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
Volume 320, Issue 1, Pages 72-95

Publisher

AMER JOURNAL SCIENCE
DOI: 10.2475/01.2020.05

Keywords

microbial carbonates; cyanobacteria; extrapolymeric substances; Raman spectroscopy; carboxyl; spherulites

Funding

  1. National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
  2. Canada Foundation for Innovation
  3. Ontario Research (Leaders Opportunity Fund) [22404]

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Many have postulated that a specific microbial metabolism or the presence of microbes or/and their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) can lead to the formation of dolomite. Although now there is the consensus that dolomite can be formed in the presence of microorganisms, the exact nature of the involvement of microbes in the dolomite nucleation remains a matter of debate. The focus is now in understanding how microbial mats determine the mineralogy of dolomite. Here we report the effect of the EPS extracted from phototrophic microbial mat isolated from a sabkha in Qatar dominated by cyanobacteria (Lyngbya aestuarii) in the formation of dolomite precursors at 25 degrees C and 40 degrees C. Both the temperature and the presence of EPS impact the size and morphology of minerals, promoting spherulitic and dumbbell growth in sulfate free solutions. The formation of proto-dolomite was enhanced by the abundance of carboxylated molecules in EPS which controlled the polymorphism of carbonates. Our study emphasizes the dual importance of organic matter and temperature in dolomite formation and their impact on mineral morphology and chemical composition in sabkhas.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available