Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old ocean

Nature volume 431, pages 549–552 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Recent re-evaluations of the geological record of the earliest life on Earth have led to the suggestion that some of the oldest putative microfossils1 and carbonaceous matter were formed through abiotic hydrothermal processes2,3. Similarly, many early Archaean (more than 3,400-Myr-old) cherts have been reinterpreted as hydrothermal deposits rather than products of normal marine sedimentary processes2,4,5. Here we present the results of a field, petrographic and geochemical study testing these hypotheses for the 3,416-Myr-old Buck Reef Chert, South Africa. From sedimentary structures and distributions of sand and mud, we infer that deposition occurred in normal open shallow to deep marine environments. The siderite enrichment that we observe in deep-water sediments is consistent with a stratified early ocean6,7. We show that most carbonaceous matter was formed by photosynthetic mats within the euphotic zone and distributed as detrital matter by waves and currents to surrounding environments. We find no evidence that hydrothermal processes had any direct role in the deposition of either the carbonaceous matter or the enclosing sediments. Instead, we conclude that photosynthetic organisms had evolved and were living in a stratified ocean supersaturated in dissolved silica8,9 3,416 Myr ago.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Measured section through the BRC with whole-rock elemental abundances.
Figure 2: Chert types and structures of the BRC.
Figure 3: Grains and textures of the BRC.
Figure 4: Laminated carbonaceous matter and filaments in the lower part of the platform facies.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schopf, J. W. & Packer, B. M. Early Archean (3.3 billion to 3.5 billion-year-old) microfossils from Warrawoona Group, Australia. Science 237, 70–73 (1987)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Brasier, M. D. et al. Questioning the evidence for Earth's oldest fossils. Nature 416, 76–81 (2002)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Garcia-Ruiz, J. M. et al. Self-assembled silica-carbonate structures and detection of ancient microfossils. Science 302, 1194–1197 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Westall, F. et al. Early Archean fossil bacteria and biofilms in hydrothermally-influenced sediments from the Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. Precambr. Res. 106, 93–116 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Paris, I., Stanistreet, I. G. & Hughes, M. J. Cherts of the Barberton greenstone belt as products of submarine exhalative activity. J. Geol. 93, 111–129 (1985)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Klein, C. & Beukes, N. J. Geochemistry and sedimentology of a facies transition from limstone to iron-formation deposition in the early Proterozoic Transvaal Supergroup, South Africa. Econ. Geol. 84, 1733–1774 (1989)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Lowe, D. R. in Early Life on Earth. Nobel Symposium No. 84 (ed. Bengston, S.) 24–35 (Columbia Univ. Press, New York, 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Lowe, D. R. in Geologic Evolution of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (eds Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R.) 83–114 (Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 329, Boulder, Colorado, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Siever, R. The silica cycle in the Precambrian. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 3265–3272 (1992)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R. in Geologic Evolution of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (eds Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R.) 1–36 (Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 329, Boulder, Colorado, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Lowe, D. R. & Fisher Worrell, G. in Geologic Evolution of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (eds Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R.) 167–188 (Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 329, Boulder, Colorado, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Tice, M. M., Bostick, B. C. & Lowe, D. R. Thermal history of the 3.5–3.2 Ga Onverwacht and Fig Tree Groups, Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa. Geology 32, 37–40 (2004)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Sumner, D. Y. Late Archean calcite–microbe interactions: Two morphologically distinct microbial communities that affected calcite nucleation differently. Palaios 12, 302–318 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Walsh, M. M. & Lowe, D. R. in Geologic Evolution of the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa (eds Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R.) 115–132 (Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 329, Boulder, Colorado, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Simonson, B. M., Schubel, K. A. & Hassler, S. W. Carbonate sedimentology of the early Precambrian Hamersley Group of Western Australia. Precambr. Res. 60, 287–335 (1993)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  16. Lowe, D. R. & Byerly, G. R. Ironstone pods in the Archean Barberton greenstone belt, South Africa: Earth's oldest seafloor hydrothermal vents reinterpreted as Quaternary subaerial springs. Geology 31, 909–912 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. de Wit, M. J., Hart, R., Martin, A. & Abbott, P. Archean abiogenic and probable biogenic structures associated with mineralized hydrothermal vent systems and regional metasomatism, with implications for greenstone belt studies. Econ. Geol. 77, 1783–1802 (1982)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Knauth, L. P. & Lowe, D. R. High Archean climatic temperature inferred from oxygen isotope geochemistry of cherts in the 3.5 Ga Swaziland Supergroup, South Africa. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 115, 566–580 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Horita, J. & Berndt, M. E. Abiogenic methane formation and isotopic fractionation under hydrothermal conditions. Science 285, 1055–1057 (1999)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Schidlowski, M. in Microbial Sediments (eds Riding, R. E. & Awramik, S. M.) 84–95 (Springer, New York, 2000)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Madigan, M. T., Martinko, J. M. & Parker, J. Brock Biology of Microorganisms (Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Boggs, S. Principles of Sedimentology and Stratigraphy (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 1995)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Lalli, C. M. & Parsons, T. R. Biological Oceanography: An Introduction (Butterworth-Heinemann, Boston, 1997)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NASA Exobiology Program grants to D.L. M.T. was also supported by a William R. and Sara Hart Kimball Stanford Graduate Fellowship and by a Harvey Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    Michael M. Tice & Donald R. Lowe

Authors
  1. Michael M. Tice
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Donald R. Lowe
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael M. Tice.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Tice, M., Lowe, D. Photosynthetic microbial mats in the 3,416-Myr-old ocean. Nature 431, 549–552 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02888

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02888

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing