nannobacteria or not?

• Main Author: R. L. Folk
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Greenland
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1029.2559

Among many hundreds of SEMs of iron oxides taken over many years and from a great many localities, certain similarities stand out. When studied at 50,000x or more, they are seen to consist of small balls in the 30-150 nm range, previously identified in carbonates, clay minerals, etc. as cells of dwarf bacteria (nannobacteria). In Fe oxide samples, are these small balls also nannobacterial cells or are they just the way that IN-organic Fe oxide precipitates? A simple trick helps to answer this question: iron oxides dissolve when hit with HCl (at different rates depending upon which iron oxide mineral is involved), but organic cells will resist solution (see Folk and Carlin, 2006). In this survey from modern, living iron bacteria to rocks from Greenland over 3 billion years old, interesting similarities are revealed. Nanocells of the same size are present the whole way through. If these tiny cells are not nannobacteria, then someone needs to come up with a viable alternative. Fig. 1 is an iron sludge from a water well in Iowa; Collector Lee Potter. Fig. 1A shows twisted ribbons resembling Gallionella, the strands totally covered with 25 nm balls. There are also clumps of 0.3 micron spheroids, some clearly elliptical. Fig. 1B shows a pipe-like strand, probably Leptothrix, covered with 50 nm balls. Many strands from disintegrating Gallionella stems are visible, as well as clumps of 0.2-0.3 micron spheroids. This is a real zoo of diverse objects.different "taxa " of bacteria? Fig. 2 is an iron crust on a pebble from a spring in Arkansas; Collector Eloise Doherty. Fig. 2A shows abundant