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Use of Morphology of Halophilic and Alkaliphilic Cyanobacteria as a Criterion for Detection of Soda Conditions in the Past

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Abstract

The modern soda lakes as relict biotopes, the analogs of which could be widespread in the Precambrian Era, are considered in the context of two hypotheses: “soda ocean” and “soda continent.” The diversity of modern halophilic and alkaliphilic cyanobacteria has been analyzed in order to reveal the morphological forms which have paleo-analogs that could be used as indicators of soda conditions in the Precambrian.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is sincerely grateful to Kanapatsky T.A., B.Sc. Biology (Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Russian Academy of Sciences), for the samples of cyanobacterial communities from the rivers of the Lake Elton region provided for making photographs and to Sergeev V.N., D.Sc. Biology (Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences), for the photographs of fossil cyanobacteria.

The work was partially supported by the Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Evolution of Organic World and Planetary Processes” (Subprogram II) and by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (projects no. 17-04-00324, no. 16-04-00758).

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  1. Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, Federal Research Center “Fundamentals of Biotechnology,” Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071, Moscow, Russia

    O. S. Samylina

  2. Borissiak Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117647, Moscow, Russia

    O. S. Samylina

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Samylina, O.S. Use of Morphology of Halophilic and Alkaliphilic Cyanobacteria as a Criterion for Detection of Soda Conditions in the Past. Paleontol. J. 52, 1162–1171 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S003103011810012X

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