Stromatolites on the rise in peat-bound karstic wetlands.

ABSTRACT: Stromatolites are the oldest evidence for life on Earth, but modern living examples are rare and predominantly occur in shallow marine or (hyper-) saline lacustrine environments, subject to exotic physico-chemical conditions. Here we report the discovery of living freshwater stromatolites in cool-temperate karstic wetlands in the Giblin River catchment of the UNESCO-listed Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, Australia. These stromatolites colonize the slopes of karstic spring mounds which create mildly alkaline (pH of 7.0-7.9) enclaves within an otherwise uniformly acidic organosol terrain. The freshwater emerging from the springs is Ca-HCO₃ dominated and water temperatures show no evidence of geothermal heating. Using 16 S rRNA gene clone library analysis we revealed that

SUBMITTER: Proemse BC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5684344 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature