Impact of abiotic factors on microbialite growth (Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA): a tank experiment

Anderson, Nicholas L.; Barrett, Katherine L.; Jones, Shannon E.; Belovsky, Gary E.

doi:10.1007/s10750-020-04235-9

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In particular, the MBA can inform predictions of whether, when, where, and how precipitation will occur and provide a testable framework for estimating the strength of the forcings required to trigger precipitation. This new representation has direct applications in the experimental field, where laboratory experiments (Anderson et al 2020, Havemann & Foster 2008, Pedley 2014) and computer models (Airo 2010) have been used to reproduce biogeochemical processes involved in microbialite construction under variable environmental conditions. The MBA provides a new way to visualize the different levers that should drive experimental or computational microbialite ecosystems and, thus, microbialite formation in nature.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas

Reid,

Suosaari,

Oehlert

et al. 2024

Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci.

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Microbialites provide geological evidence of one of Earth's oldest ecosystems, potentially recording long-standing interactions between coevolving life and the environment. Here, we focus on microbialite accretion and growth and consider how environmental and microbial forces that characterize living ecosystems in Shark Bay and the Bahamas interact to form an initial microbialite architecture, which in turn establishes distinct evolutionary pathways. A conceptual three-dimensional model is developed for microbialite accretion that emphasizes the importance of a dynamic balance between extrinsic and intrinsic factors in determining the initial architecture. We then explore how early taphonomic and diagenetic processes modify the initial architecture, culminating in various styles of preservation in the rock record. The timing of lithification of microbial products is critical in determining growth patterns and preservation potential. Study results have shown that all microbialites are not created equal; the unique evolutionary history of an individual microbialite matters.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas

Reid,

Suosaari,

Oehlert

et al. 2024

Annu. Rev. Mar. Sci.

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“…For example, at the Xichagou area, microbialites formed during both the brackish lake stage of Unit 4 and the saline‐hypersaline lake stage of Unit 2. Under favourable hydrogeochemical conditions and light availability, lacustrine microbialites prefer to develop in lakes with warm waters (Anderson et al, 2020) or influenced by hydrothermal activity (Baskin et al, 2022; Della Porta, 2015; Della Porta et al, 2017, 2022). Climate can play a significant effect on microbialite deficiency or enrichment in lake deposits because of the clear relationship between mean annual air temperature and warmest mean water temperature in temperate lakes (Hren & Sheldon, 2012).…”

Section: Implications For the Uplifting Of Tibetan Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Tectonic and climatic controls on carbonate sedimentation in active orogen proximal lakes, Cenozoic Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau

Guo

Wen

et al. 2023

Basin Research

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Palustrine‐lacustrine carbonates of the well‐dated Xichagou section (ca. 43 to ca. 13 Ma) next to the active Altyn Tagh Fault (ATF) are investigated in terms of abundance, lithofacies, strontium, carbon and oxygen isotopes, to differentiate tectonic and climatic controls on the evolution of intermontane lakes in the Tibetan Plateau. Volumetrically dominant siliciclastic strata document five depositional stages: mid‐Eocene alluvial fan (onshore), late Eocene fan delta (nearshore), Oligocene semi‐deep lake (offshore), early Miocene braided fluvial delta (nearshore) and mid‐Miocene fluvial plain (onshore). Carbonates are most abundant in the middle three lacustrine stages and contain various lithofacies, including calcretes, microbialites, grainstones and marlstones. Oxygen isotopes show two positive excursions (−1.17‰ and −2.59‰) at the first nearshore and late offshore stages, indicating two relatively saline stages linked to the Eocene and late Oligocene global warming climates. Carbon isotopes show a positive excursion (from −4.0‰ to +2.9‰) at the middle semi‐deep lake stage and meanwhile strontium isotopes of carbonates show a large negative excursion (from 0.7120‰ to 0.7113‰), both in response to the early Oligocene global humid and cooling climate and resultant lake expansion at the Qaidam Basin. Except for this lake expansion event, the first‐order lake transgressing, shallowing and regressing evolution at the Xichagou section were not consistent with Cenozoic global climatic change trends. Instead, the two‐stage strike‐slip faulting of the ATF probably induced the northeastward and eastward migration of basin depocenter and resulted in the lake transgression‐regression at the Xichagou section. The widespread presence and relatively minor variation in oxygen isotopes (from −7.5‰ to −7.0‰) of early Miocene microbialites in the northern Tibetan Plateau suggest a warm climate and a low relief before ca. 15 Ma.

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“…mat community is taxonomically and functionally diverse [12,28,29]. Microbialite periphyton conservatively contribute one third of the primary production in Great Salt Lake [30,31].They are the primary food source for brine fly (Ephydra spp.) larvae [32,33], as well as a seasonally important food source for the lake's economically important brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) [7,33].…”

Section: Plos Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Desiccation of ecosystem-critical microbialites in the shrinking Great Salt Lake, Utah (USA)

Frantz,

Gibby,

Nilson

et al. 2023

PLOS Water

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Great Salt Lake hosts an ecosystem that is critical to migratory birds and international aquaculture, yet it is currently threatened by falling lake elevation and high lakewater salinity resulting from water diversions in the upstream watershed and the enduring megadrought in the western United States. Microbialite reefs underpin the ecosystem, hosting a surface microbial community that is estimated to contribute 30% of the lake’s primary productivity. We monitored exposure, desiccation, and bleaching over time in an area of microbialite reef. During this period, lake elevation fell by 1.8 m, and salinity increased from 11.0% to 19.5% in open-water portions of the outer reef, reaching halite saturation in hydrologically closed regions. When exposed, microbialite bleaching was rapid. Bleached microbialites are not necessarily dead, however, with communities and chlorophyll persisting beneath microbialite surfaces for several months of exposure and desiccation. However, superficial losses in the mat community resulted in enhanced microbialite weathering. In microbialite recovery experiments with bleached microbialite pieces, partial community recovery was rapid at salinities ≤ 17%. 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing indicated that recovery was driven by initial seeding from lakewater. At higher salinity levels, eventual accumulation of chlorophyll may reflect accumulation and preservation of lake material in halite crusts vs. true recovery. Our results indicate that increased water input should be prioritized in order to return the lake to an elevation that submerges microbialite reefs and lowers salinity levels. Without quick action to reverse diversions in the watershed, loss of pelagic microbial community members due to sustained high salinity could prevent the recovery of the ecosystem-critical microbialite surface communities in Great Salt Lake.

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Impact of abiotic factors on microbialite growth (Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA): a tank experiment

Cited by 6 publications

References 49 publications

Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas

Microbialite Accretion and Growth: Lessons from Shark Bay and the Bahamas

Tectonic and climatic controls on carbonate sedimentation in active orogen proximal lakes, Cenozoic Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau

Desiccation of ecosystem-critical microbialites in the shrinking Great Salt Lake, Utah (USA)

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