Microfabric characteristics of microbial carbonates
Wu Ya-Sheng1,2,3, Jiang Hong-Xia4, Li Ying1,2,3, Yu Gong-Liang5
1 Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment,Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029,China; 2 Innovation Academy for Earth Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100029,China; 3 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China; 4 Institute of Paleontology,Hebei GEO University,Shijiazhuang 050031,China; 5 Institute of Hydrobiology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Wuhan 430072,China
Abstract：Previously microbialites were identified and classified based only on mesofabrics,i.e.,the fabrics visible to naked eyes,but not on the basis of microfabrics,i.e., the fabrics visible under the microscope. This paper focuses on the basic characteristics of microfabrics of microbial carbonates and microbialites,and whether they can be used for their identification and classification. An experiment on microbe-induced calcification that we conducted shows that among a variety of microbes,only the filaments of the cyanobacterium Lyngbya form carbonate minerals on the surface of their sheaths,firstly as scattered carbonate particles,and finally as crusts almost enveloping the whole filaments. It is thus proposed that the microbial carbonates that are formed by induced precipitation have two basic constituents,namely,the mold holes,i.e.,the holes left by the microbes,and the carbonate crusts. Microscopic observations of the modern microbial carbonates from the Shark Bay of Australia,Highborne Cay of Bahamas,and Atoll of Kiritimati and the Cambrian dolomitized microbialites in Xinjiang,China revealed that mold holes and the crusts or cements between the pores are a basic characteristic. The shape,size and arrangement of the mold holes and proclots are the core contents of the study on the microfabrics,and these features can be used for the identification and classification of microbialites,as well as the basis for the analysis of their formation mechanism and environments.
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