Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 3 January 1992:
Vol. 255. no. 5040, pp. 74 - 77
DOI: 10.1126/science.11536492
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Science, Vol 255, Issue 5040, 74-77
Copyright © 1992 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

The antiquity of oxygenic photosynthesis: evidence from stromatolites in sulphate-deficient Archaean lakes

R Buick

Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

The Tumbiana Formation, about 2700 million years old, was largely deposited in ephemeral saline lakes, as judged by the unusual evaporite paragenesis of carbonate and halite with no sulfate. Stromatolites of diverse morphology occur in the lacustrine sediments, some with palimpsest fabrics after erect filaments. These stromatolites were probably accreted by phototropic microbes that, from their habitat in shallow isolated basins with negligible sulfate concentrations, almost certainly metabolized by ozygenic photosynthesis.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Morphological record of oxygenic photosynthesis in conical stromatolites.
T. Bosak, B. Liang, M. S. Sim, and A. P. Petroff (2009)
PNAS 106, 10939-10943
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Evidence for microbial life in synsedimentary cavities from 2.75 Ga terrestrial environments.
B. Rasmussen, T. S. Blake, I. R. Fletcher, and M. R. Kilburn (2009)
Geology 37, 423-426
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
An iron shuttle for deepwater silica in Late Archean and early Paleoproterozoic iron formation.
W. W. Fischer and A. H. Knoll (2009)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 121, 222-235
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Palaeoproterozoic supercontinents and global evolution: correlations from core to atmosphere.
S. M. Reddy and D. A. D. Evans (2009)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 323, 1-26
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
When did oxygenic photosynthesis evolve?.
R. Buick (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2731-2743
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The evolution of photosynthesis...again?.
L. J Rothschild (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 2787-2801
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Advances in understanding the cyanobacterial CO2-concentrating-mechanism (CCM): functional components, Ci transporters, diversity, genetic regulation and prospects for engineering into plants.
G. D. Price, M. R. Badger, F. J. Woodger, and B. M. Long (2008)
J. Exp. Bot. 59, 1441-1461
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Late Archean rise of aerobic microbial ecosystems.
J. L. Eigenbrode and K. H. Freeman (2006)
PNAS 103, 15759-15764
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Deposition of banded iron formations by anoxygenic phototrophic Fe(II)-oxidizing bacteria.
A. Kappler, C. Pasquero, K. O. Konhauser, and D. K. Newman (2005)
Geology 33, 865-868
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Bacterial Diversity and Sulfur Cycling in a Mesophilic Sulfide-Rich Spring.
M. S. Elshahed, J. M. Senko, F. Z. Najar, S. M. Kenton, B. A. Roe, T. A. Dewers, J. R. Spear, and L. R. Krumholz (2003)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 69, 5609-5621
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The enigma of the origin of life and its timing.
M. A. Line (2002)
Microbiology 148, 21-27
   Full Text »    PDF »
Fermor lecture: The influence of life on the face of the Earth: garnets and moving continents.
E. G. Nisbet (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 199, 275-307
   Abstract »    PDF »
Bacterial Residues in Coprolite of Herbivorous Dinosaurs: Role of Bacteria in Mineralization of Feces.
(2001)
Palaios 16, 547-565
Biogenic Methane, Hydrogen Escape, and the Irreversible Oxidation of Early Earth.
D. C. Catling, K. J. Zahnle, and C. McKay (2001)
Science 293, 839-843
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Isotopic Evolution of the Biogeochemical Carbon Cycle During the Precambrian.
D. J. Des Marais and D. J. Des Marais (2001)
Reviews in Mineralogy and Geochemistry 43, 555-578
   Full Text »    PDF »
Life associated with a 2.76 Ga ephemeral pond?: Evidence from Mount Roe #2 paleosol.
R. Rye and H. D. Holland (2000)
Geology 28, 483-486
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Earth's early atmosphere.
J. Kasting (1993)
Science 259, 920-926
   Abstract »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)