Affiliation:
1. Institute of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, 6-8 Leányka Street, H-3300 Eger, Hungary
2. HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Budaörsi út 45, H-1112 Budapest, Hungary
3. HUN-REN Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, MTA Centre of Excellence, Konkoly Thege Miklós út 15-17, H-1121 Budapest, Hungary
Abstract
Continental rifting of the Tisza microplate started during the Late Jurassic and resulted in phreatic eruptions, peperite, and the construction of a volcanic edifice in the Early Cretaceous in the Mecsek Mountains (South Hungary). In the SE direction from the volcanic edifice at Zengővárkony, a shallow marine (depth 100–200 m) carbonate sediment hosted a vent environment, and iron ore deposition occurred at the end of the Valanginian to early Hauterivian, hosting a diverse, endemic fauna of approximately 60 species. The detailed mineralogical analysis of the transport conduits included Fe oxides (ferrihydrite, goethite, hematite, and magnetite), quartz, mixed carbonate, pyrite, feldspar, Fe-bearing clay minerals, apatite, sulfates (barite, gypsum, and jarosite), and native sulfur. Filamentous, microbially mediated microtextures with inner sequented, necklace-like spheric forms (diameter of 1 μm) and bacterial laminae are also observed inside decapod crustacean coprolites (Palaxius tetraochetarius) and in the rock matrix. This complex ecological and mineralogical analysis provided direct evidence for the presence of bacteria in fossil sediment-hosted vent (SHV) environments on the one hand and for the intimate connection between bacteria and decapod crustaceans in hydrothermal environments 135 Ma before. This observation completes the fossil food chain of chemosynthesis-based ecosystems, from primary producers to the top carnivores reported for the first time from this locality.
Funder
Bólyai János Research Grant
Osztrák-Magyar Akció Alapítvány
Reference91 articles.
1. Submarine thermal springs on the Galápagos Rift;Corliss;Science,1979
2. Fossils of hydrothermal vent worms from Cretaceous sulfide ores of the Samail Ophiolite, Oman;Haymon;Science,1984
3. The first measurements of hydrothermal heat output at 9°50′N, East Pacific Rise;Ramondenc;Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.,2006
4. Beaulieu, S.E., and Szafrański, K.M. (2022, January 01). InterRidge Global Database of Active Submarine Hydrothermal Vent Fields Version 3.4. PANGAEA. Available online: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.917894.
5. The history of life at hydrothermal vents;Georgieva;Earth-Sci. Rev.,2021