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Manganese carbonates as possible biogenic relics in Archean settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2016

Blanca Rincón-Tomás ,
Bahar Khonsari ,
Dominik Mühlen ,
Christian Wickbold ,
Nadine Schäfer ,
Dorothea Hause-Reitner ,
Michael Hoppert  and
Joachim Reitner
Blanca Rincón-Tomás
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Bahar Khonsari
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Dominik Mühlen
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Christian Wickbold
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Nadine Schäfer
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen Centre of Geosciences, Goldschmidtstraße 3, 37077 Göttingen,Germany
Dorothea Hause-Reitner
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen Centre of Geosciences, Goldschmidtstraße 3, 37077 Göttingen,Germany
Michael Hoppert*
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Institute of Microbiology and Genetics, Grisebachstraße 8, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
Joachim Reitner
Affiliation:
Georg-August-University Göttingen, Göttingen Centre of Geosciences, Goldschmidtstraße 3, 37077 Göttingen,Germany Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Theaterstraße 7, 37073 Göttingen, Germany
*
e-mail: mhopper@gwdg.de
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Abstract

Carbonate minerals such as dolomite, kutnahorite or rhodochrosite are frequently, but not exclusively generated by microbial processes. In recent anoxic sediments, Mn(II)carbonate minerals (e.g. rhodochrosite, kutnahorite) derive mainly from the reduction of Mn(IV) compounds by anaerobic respiration. The formation of huge manganese-rich (carbonate) deposits requires effective manganese redox cycling in an oxygenated atmosphere. However, putative anaerobic pathways such as microbial nitrate-dependent manganese oxidation, anoxygenic photosynthesis and oxidation in ultraviolet light may facilitate manganese cycling even in an early Archean environment, without the availability of oxygen. In addition, manganese carbonates precipitate by microbially induced processes without change of the oxidation state, e.g. by pH shift. Hence, there are several ways how these minerals could have been formed biogenically and deposited in Precambrian sediments. We will summarize microbially induced manganese carbonate deposition in the presence and absence of atmospheric oxygen and we will make some considerations about the biogenic deposition of manganese carbonates in early Archean settings.

Keywords

anaerobic respirationArcheandolomitekutnahoritemanganese carbonates
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 15 , Special Issue 3: Early life processes: A geo- and astrobiological approach , July 2016 , pp. 219 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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