3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth
The 3.43 billion-year-old Strelley Pool Chert, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, contains compelling evidence of Early Archaean life in the form of kilometre-sized remnants of an ancient stromatolitic carbonate platform. Reviewing and building on earlier studies, we examine the fossilized remains o...
Published in: | Precambrian Research |
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ftmacquarieunicr:oai:https://researchers.mq.edu.au:publications/b581cd57-fd20-4bf9-be82-8d92e4f2699d 2024-09-15T18:24:59+00:00 3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth Allwood, Abigail C. Walter, Malcolm R. Burch, Ian W. Kamber, Balz S. 2007-10-05 https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/b581cd57-fd20-4bf9-be82-8d92e4f2699d https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34548510910&partnerID=8YFLogxK eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess Allwood , A C , Walter , M R , Burch , I W & Kamber , B S 2007 , ' 3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia : Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth ' , Precambrian Research , vol. 158 , no. 3-4 , pp. 198-227 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 Biogenic Carbonate Carbonate platform Chert Dolomite Early Archaean Evaporites Kelly Group Microbialites Morphology North Pole Dome Panorama Greenstone Belt Pilbara Rare earth elements Reef Rocky shoreline Strelley Pool Chert Stromatolites article 2007 ftmacquarieunicr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 2024-08-21T23:35:59Z The 3.43 billion-year-old Strelley Pool Chert, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, contains compelling evidence of Early Archaean life in the form of kilometre-sized remnants of an ancient stromatolitic carbonate platform. Reviewing and building on earlier studies, we examine the fossilized remains of the platform to seek ecosystem-scale insights to Earth's early biosphere, examining the evidence for biosedimentation, and the importance and effect of different environmental processes on biological activity. Both vertical and lateral trends show that stromatolite abundance and diversity are greatest in the area interpreted as an isolated, partially restricted, peritidal marine carbonate platform, or reef, where there is virtually no trace of hydrothermal or terrigenous clastic input. In contrast, stromatolites are poorly developed or absent among hydrothermal, volcaniclastic or terrigenous clastic sedimentary facies, and are absent in deeper marine settings that are laterally equivalent to shallow marine stromatolitic facies. Hydrothermal veins, some of which were previously interpreted as vents that exhaled fluids from which the stromatolitic structures precipitated, are shown to postdate the stromatolites. On the platform, stromatolite facies associations varied between different palaeoenvironments, but some stromatolite types occurred across different palaeoenvironments, highlighting the combined influence of biological and environmental processes on stromatolite formation. The regional distribution of stromatolites in the palaeoenvironment suggests a biological response to variations in water depth, sediment influx and hydrothermal activity with stromatolite formation favoured by relatively 'normal' shallow marine environments with low clastic/chemical sedimentation rates and no direct input from high temperature hydrothermal systems. The lithology, structure and fabrics of the stromatolites, and their close association with abundant evaporite crystal pseudomorphs, indicate that evaporitic precipitation was ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Pole Macquarie University Research Portal Precambrian Research 158 3-4 198 227 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Macquarie University Research Portal |
op_collection_id |
ftmacquarieunicr |
language |
English |
topic |
Biogenic Carbonate Carbonate platform Chert Dolomite Early Archaean Evaporites Kelly Group Microbialites Morphology North Pole Dome Panorama Greenstone Belt Pilbara Rare earth elements Reef Rocky shoreline Strelley Pool Chert Stromatolites |
spellingShingle |
Biogenic Carbonate Carbonate platform Chert Dolomite Early Archaean Evaporites Kelly Group Microbialites Morphology North Pole Dome Panorama Greenstone Belt Pilbara Rare earth elements Reef Rocky shoreline Strelley Pool Chert Stromatolites Allwood, Abigail C. Walter, Malcolm R. Burch, Ian W. Kamber, Balz S. 3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
topic_facet |
Biogenic Carbonate Carbonate platform Chert Dolomite Early Archaean Evaporites Kelly Group Microbialites Morphology North Pole Dome Panorama Greenstone Belt Pilbara Rare earth elements Reef Rocky shoreline Strelley Pool Chert Stromatolites |
description |
The 3.43 billion-year-old Strelley Pool Chert, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, contains compelling evidence of Early Archaean life in the form of kilometre-sized remnants of an ancient stromatolitic carbonate platform. Reviewing and building on earlier studies, we examine the fossilized remains of the platform to seek ecosystem-scale insights to Earth's early biosphere, examining the evidence for biosedimentation, and the importance and effect of different environmental processes on biological activity. Both vertical and lateral trends show that stromatolite abundance and diversity are greatest in the area interpreted as an isolated, partially restricted, peritidal marine carbonate platform, or reef, where there is virtually no trace of hydrothermal or terrigenous clastic input. In contrast, stromatolites are poorly developed or absent among hydrothermal, volcaniclastic or terrigenous clastic sedimentary facies, and are absent in deeper marine settings that are laterally equivalent to shallow marine stromatolitic facies. Hydrothermal veins, some of which were previously interpreted as vents that exhaled fluids from which the stromatolitic structures precipitated, are shown to postdate the stromatolites. On the platform, stromatolite facies associations varied between different palaeoenvironments, but some stromatolite types occurred across different palaeoenvironments, highlighting the combined influence of biological and environmental processes on stromatolite formation. The regional distribution of stromatolites in the palaeoenvironment suggests a biological response to variations in water depth, sediment influx and hydrothermal activity with stromatolite formation favoured by relatively 'normal' shallow marine environments with low clastic/chemical sedimentation rates and no direct input from high temperature hydrothermal systems. The lithology, structure and fabrics of the stromatolites, and their close association with abundant evaporite crystal pseudomorphs, indicate that evaporitic precipitation was ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Allwood, Abigail C. Walter, Malcolm R. Burch, Ian W. Kamber, Balz S. |
author_facet |
Allwood, Abigail C. Walter, Malcolm R. Burch, Ian W. Kamber, Balz S. |
author_sort |
Allwood, Abigail C. |
title |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
title_short |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
title_full |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
title_fullStr |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
title_full_unstemmed |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia:Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth |
title_sort |
3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the pilbara craton of western australia:ecosystem-scale insights to early life on earth |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://researchers.mq.edu.au/en/publications/b581cd57-fd20-4bf9-be82-8d92e4f2699d https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34548510910&partnerID=8YFLogxK |
genre |
North Pole |
genre_facet |
North Pole |
op_source |
Allwood , A C , Walter , M R , Burch , I W & Kamber , B S 2007 , ' 3.43 billion-year-old stromatolite reef from the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia : Ecosystem-scale insights to early life on Earth ' , Precambrian Research , vol. 158 , no. 3-4 , pp. 198-227 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.013 |
container_title |
Precambrian Research |
container_volume |
158 |
container_issue |
3-4 |
container_start_page |
198 |
op_container_end_page |
227 |
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1810465371546714112 |