The Global Distribution of Modern Microbialites: Not So Uncommon After All

Abstract

Modern microbialites, a specialized microbial mat that precipitates carbonates, have been thought over the last two decades to be extremely rare, with some in Shark Bay, Western Australia; Highborne Cay, Bahamas; and Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Mexico. Like their fossilized ancient cousins, the stromatolites represent the oldest evidence for life on Earth (~3.4 Gya), and modern microbialites are prevalent across the globe and have colonized most environments. Many of these microbialite-forming ecosystems have been used as models for astrobiology and NASA mission analogs, including Shark Bay, Pavilion, and Kelly Lakes. This perspective will discuss the global distribution of modern microbialites, their use as astrobiology/NASA mission analogs, and the wealth of information already yielded from ‘omics studies obtained from these ecosystems.