Abstract
The recent discovery of a deep-water sulfur-cycling microbial biota in the ~2.3-Ga Western Australian Turee Creek Group opened a new window to life's early history. We now report a second such subseafloor-inhabiting community from the Western Australian ~1.8-Ga Duck Creek Formation. Permineralized in cherts formed during and soon after the 2.4-to 2.2-Ga "Great Oxidation Event," these two biotas may evidence an opportunistic response to the mid-Precambrian increase of environmental oxygen that resulted in increased production of metabolically useable sulfate and nitrate. The marked similarity of microbial morphology, habitat, and organization of these fossil communities to their modern counterparts documents exceptionally slow (hypobradytelic) change that, if paralleled by their molecular biology, would evidence extreme evolutionary stasis.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2087-2092 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |
Volume | 112 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 17 Feb 2015 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Great Oxidation Event
- Microbial evolution
- Null hypothesis
- Precambrian microorganisms
- Sulfur bacteria