Estuarine biofilm patterns: modern analogues for Precambrian self‐organization

Autor: Tjeerd J. Bouma, Daphne van der Wal, Valentina Cusseddu, Johan van de Koppel, Roeland C. van de Vijsel, Max Rietkerk, Samuel J. Purkis, Jim van Belzen
Přispěvatelé: Department of Water Resources, UT-I-ITC-WCC, Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation, Proceskunde, Spatial Ecology and Global Change, Environmental Sciences, Conservation Ecology Group
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
DYNAMICS
microbially induced sedimentary structures
Bedform
paleoenvironment
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences
Economics
ALGAL MATS
Geography
Planning and Development
Intertidal zone
010502 geochemistry & geophysics
01 natural sciences
Sedimentary structures
algal mats
ITC-HYBRID
Paleontology
Precambrian
biostabilization
stromatolites
INTERTIDAL MUDFLAT
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Ecosystem
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Earth-Surface Processes
Planning and Development
TERM CHANGES
Biogeomorphology
Geography
Physics
long-term morphodynamics
ridges and runnels
sedimentary record
microbialites
autogenic dynamics
INDUCED SEDIMENTARY STRUCTURES
biogeomorphology
self-organization
STABLE STATES
BLUE CARBON
Algal mat
ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE
bedforms
Sedimentary rock
TIDAL FLAT
VEGETATION
biofilms
Geology
Zdroj: Earth surface processes and landforms
Earth surface processes and landforms, 45(5), 1141-1154. Wiley
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(5), 1141-1154. WILEY-BLACKWELL
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45(5), 1141. Wiley Online Library
ISSN: 0197-9337
Popis: This field and laboratory study examines whether regularly patterned biofilms on present-day intertidal flats are equivalent to microbially induced bedforms found in geological records dating back to the onset of life on Earth. Algal mats of filamentous Vaucheria species, functionally similar to microbial biofilms, cover the topographic highs of regularly spaced ridge-runnel bedforms. As regular patterning is typically associated with self-organization processes, indicators of self-organization are tested and found to support this hypothesis. The measurements suggest that biofilm-induced sediment trapping and biostabilization enhance bedform relief, strength and multi-year persistence. This demonstrates the importance of primitive organisms for sedimentary landscape development. Algal-covered ridges consist of wavy-crinkly laminated sedimentary deposits that resemble the layered structure of fossil stromatolites and microbially induced sedimentary structures. In addition to layering, both the morphological pattern and the suggested formation mechanism of the recent bedforms are strikingly similar to microbialite strata found in rock records from the Precambrian onwards. This implies that self-organization was an important morphological process in times when biofilms were the predominant sessile ecosystem. These findings furthermore emphasize that self-organization dynamics, such as critical transitions invoking ecosystem emergence or collapse, might have been captured in fossil microbialites, influencing their laminae. This notion may be important for paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on such strata. (c) 2019 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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