Microbial-mat-associated tephra of the Archean Moodies Group, Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB), South Africa: Resemblance to potential biostructures and ecological implications

Abstract

Abstract Documenting evidence of fossil microbial life on early Earth is made difficult by the paucity of suitable Archean sedimentary rocks, their common metamorphic overprint, the small outcrop areas, and the small size of the objects of interest. Although a large number of putative microfossils dating back as far as 3700 Ma have been described, the syngeneity and biogenicity of many occurrences is debated, and some of the proposed fossils have been found to be either contaminants or abiotic artefacts. The ~3200 Ma Moodies Group of the Barberton Greenstone Belt (BGB), South Africa, contains locally abundant and remarkably well-preserved microbial mats which show indirect evidence of photosynthetic activity. They also contain microstructures which strongly resemble remains of microbial cells. Detailed morphological and geochemical analyses, however, show that these structures mostly represent fragments of volcanic tephra. Our study demonstrates that opaque microstructures within microbial mats can potentially be misidentified as microfossils even when a strict protocol is followed. It also posits the question to which degree volcanic air-borne fertilization contributed to the remarkable growth rate, high mechanical tenacity and wide extent of these oldest tidal microbial mats in siliciclastic environments.