Abstract
Fossil microbial mats provide a convincing record of life on the early Earth. Although mat-like features may be produced abiologically, a careful examination of physical and chemical characteristics can be used to determine the origin of fine laminations within carbonaceous cherts with some confidence. Examples of probable microbial mats are found in the Hooggenoeg, Kromberg, and Fig Tree Formations of the Kaapvaal Craton of southern Africa and the Dixon Island Formation and the Farrel Quartzite of the Pilbara Craton in northwestern Australia.
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Acknowledgments
The Louisiana Board of Regents/LaSPACE under the NASA Space Training Grant award NNG05GH22H provided support for this study. Dr. Mike Tice of Texas A&M University College and Dr. Nora Noffke of Old Dominion University kindly provided photographs for use in this chapter.
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Walsh, M.M. (2010). Microbial Mats on the Early Earth: The Archean Rock Record. In: Seckbach, J., Oren, A. (eds) Microbial Mats. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 14. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3799-2_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3799-2_3
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