Abstract

Today, benthic cyanobacteria form biofilms and microbial mats in siliciclastic tidal settings, where they interact with the sedimentary dynamics of waves and currents. This interaction gives rise to 'microbially induced sedimentary structures - MISS' that are widely distributed in sandy marine deposits. Those structures are not only known from modern marine environments, but have been detected in sandstone successions of the about 3 billion years old Archean age to the Holocene. We study microbial mats on Fishermans Island, Virginia, and monitor their development in course of the year. In order to detect ancient microbial mats, we conducted a field trip to South Africa, Pongola Supergroup, where 3 billion year old rocks record an ancient, microbial mat-overgrown tidal flat. Various MISS document significant microbial mats in a hot-arid paleoclimate.

Light refreshments are served in the Interaction Area (4th floor of the Oceanography/Physics Building) at 4:00 p.m.

All seminars begin at 3:00 p.m. and are held in room 200 of the Oceanography/Physics building.