Photosynthesis-induced stromatolite formation in the freshwater creeks

Abstract

Stromatolites, the oldest macrofossil in the Earth history, appeared about 3.5 billion years ago and considered to be formed by the interaction between the activities of benthic microorganisms and the surrounding environment, and hence are expected to provide important information for the evolution of life and Earth's environment. However, fossil stromatolites usually lack microfossils (e.g., Riding 1994), which makes it difficult to interpret their formation mechanisms. © 2011 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.