Heliotropism in modern stromatolites
Conference
·
· Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States)
OSTI ID:6863691
Three different examples of modern microbial mats and stromatolites have been discovered that exhibit a preferred orientation towards specular sunlight. In Hamelin Pool of Shark Bay, Western Australia, subtidal decimeter-sized discrete columns and intertidal centimeter-sized tufts were found pointing north. In thermal spring effluents and pools of Yellowstone National Park, columnar and conical centimeter-sized microbial structures were found to be inclined to the south. None of these inclined structures show growth orientation in response to prevailing fluid directions. Each example occurs in markedly different environments and each has different photosynthetic microbes: (1) the subtidal Shark Bay columns are dominated by surficial diatoms: (2) the intertidal Shark Bay tufts constructed by a filamentous cyanobacterium; and (3) the cones and columns in Yellowstone are built by filamentous flexibacteria and cyanobacteria. Sunlight must be considered a major driving force in stromatolite morphogenesis. Extrapolation of these modern heliotropic columnar stromatolites to fossil examples supports the paleolatitude hypothesis of Vologdin (1961) and of Nordeng (1963) and the days per year hypothesis of Vanyo and Awramik (1982). Taken together, and especially when combined with paleomagnetic analyses, the procedures yield an impressive array of data on Earth and Earth-Sun-Moon histories.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of California, Santa Barbara (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6863691
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8510489-
- Conference Information:
- Journal Name: Geol. Soc. Am., Abstr. Programs; (United States) Journal Volume: 17
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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