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. 2024 Jul-Aug;22(4):e12610.
doi: 10.1111/gbi.12610.

Pyritic stromatolites from the Paleoarchean Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton: Resolving biogenicity and hydrothermally influenced ecosystem dynamics

Raphael J Baumgartner  1   2 , Martin J Van Kranendonk  2   3 , Stefano Caruso  1   2 , Kathleen A Campbell  4 , Michaela J Dobson  4 , Bronwyn L Teece  2   5 , Michael Verrall  1 , Martin Homann  6 , Stefan Lalonde  7 , Pieter T Visscher  8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 CSIRO Mineral Resources, Australian Resources Research Centre, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia.
  • 2 School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia.
  • 3 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
  • 4 School of Environment and Te Ao Mārama, Centre for Fundamental Inquiry, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
  • 5 Origins and Habitability Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.
  • 6 Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
  • 7 European Institute for Marine Studies, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané, France.
  • 8 Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut, USA.

Pyritic stromatolites from the Paleoarchean Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton: Resolving biogenicity and hydrothermally influenced ecosystem dynamics

Raphael J Baumgartner et al. Geobiology. 2024 Jul-Aug.
. 2024 Jul-Aug;22(4):e12610.
doi: 10.1111/gbi.12610.

Authors

Raphael J Baumgartner  1   2 , Martin J Van Kranendonk  2   3 , Stefano Caruso  1   2 , Kathleen A Campbell  4 , Michaela J Dobson  4 , Bronwyn L Teece  2   5 , Michael Verrall  1 , Martin Homann  6 , Stefan Lalonde  7 , Pieter T Visscher  8

Affiliations

  • 1 CSIRO Mineral Resources, Australian Resources Research Centre, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia.
  • 2 School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, The University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia.
  • 3 School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia, Australia.
  • 4 School of Environment and Te Ao Mārama, Centre for Fundamental Inquiry, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
  • 5 Origins and Habitability Laboratory, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.
  • 6 Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK.
  • 7 European Institute for Marine Studies, Technopôle Brest-Iroise, Plouzané, France.
  • 8 Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, Connecticut, USA.

Abstract

This study investigates the paleobiological significance of pyritic stromatolites from the 3.48 billion-year-old Dresser Formation, Pilbara Craton. By combining paleoenvironmental analyses with observations from well-preserved stromatolites in newly obtained drill cores, the research reveals stratiform and columnar to domal pyritic structures with wavy to wrinkly laminations and crest thickening, hosted within facies variably influenced by syn-depositional hydrothermal activity. The columnar and domal stromatolites occur in strata with clearly distinguishable primary depositional textures. Mineralogical variability and fine-scale interference textures between the microbialites and the enclosing sediment highlight interplays between microbial and depositional processes. The stromatolites consist of organomineralization - nanoporous pyrite and microspherulitic barite - hosting significant thermally mature organic matter (OM). This includes filamentous organic microstructures encased within nanoporous pyrite, resembling the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) of microbes. These findings imply biogenicity and support the activity of microbial life in a volcano-sedimentary environment with hydrothermal activity and evaporative cycles. Coupled changes in stromatolite morphology and host facies suggest growth in diverse niches, from dynamic, hydrothermally influenced shallow-water environments to restricted brine pools strongly enriched in from seawater and hydrothermal activity. These observations, along with S stable isotope data indicating influence by S metabolisms, and accumulations of biologically significant metals and metalloids (Ni and As) within the microbialites, help constrain microbial processes. Columnar to domal stromatolites in dynamic, hydrothermally influenced shallow water deposits likely formed by microbial communities dominated by phototrophs. Stratiform pyritic structures within barite-rich strata may reflect the prevalence of chemotrophs near hydrothermal venting, where hydrothermal activity and microbial processes influenced barite precipitation. Rapid pyrite precipitation, a putative taphonomic process for preserving microbial remnants, is attributed to microbial sulfate reduction and reduced S sourced from hydrothermal activity. In conclusion, this research underscores the biogenicity of the Dresser stromatolites and advances our understanding of microbial ecosystems in Earth's early history.

Keywords: Dresser Formation; Paleoarchean; biogenicity; ecosystem dynamics; microbe–environment interactions; stromatolites.

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References

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