• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.291-305
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• 2015

Microbialites are defined as rocks formed by microbial organisms. After their first appearance around 3.5 billion years ago, microbialites occur in various depositional environments throughout geological periods. Microbial organisms form microbialites by trapping and binding detrital sediments and/or precipitating carbonate cements, resulting in formation of various microstructures and mesostructures. Four major types of microbialites are distinguished based on their mesostructures: stromatolite, thrombolite, dendrolite, and leiolite. In the geological records, occurrences of microbialites are influenced by calcium carbonate saturation of seawater and interaction of microbialites with metazoans. Stromatolites mainly flourished during the Precambrian, and diminished as level of atmospheric carbon dioxide declined. On the other hand, thrombolites, mainly formed by calcified microbes, began to flourish from the Neoproterozoic. As metazoans diversified in the Phanerozoic, proportion of the microbialites within sedimentary record declined. Since then, microbialites only occasionally flourished during the Phanerozoic, such as shortly after mass-extinction events. In the Korean Peninsula, microbialites occur in the Neoproterozoic Sangwon System, the Early Paleozoic Joseon Supergroup, and the Cretaceous Gyeongsang Supergroup, which form different shapes according to their age and depositional environments. By performing detailed studies on these Korean microbialites, it is possible to understand how microbes affected geological records and sedimentary environments, as well as their interaction with other organisms.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.419-433
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• 2014

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity investigated plains at Meridiani Planum, where laminated sedimentary rocks are present. The Opportunity rover's Athena morphological investigation showed microstructures organized in intertwined filaments of microspherules: a texture we have also found on samples of terrestrial (biogenic) stromatolites and other microbialites. We performed a quantitative image analysis to compare images (n=45) of microbialites with the images (n=30) photographed by the rover (corresponding, approximately, to 25,000/15,000 microstructures). Contours were extracted and morphometric indexes were obtained: geometric and algorithmic complexities, entropy, tortuosity, minimum and maximum diameters. Terrestrial and Martian textures present a multifractal aspect. Mean values and confidence intervals from the Martian images overlapped perfectly with those from the terrestrial samples. The probability of this occurring by chance is $1/2^8$, less than p<0.004. Terrestrial abiogenic pseudostromatolites showed a simple fractal structure and different morphometric values from those of the terrestrial biogenic stromatolite images or Martian images with a less ordered texture (p<0.001). Our work shows the presumptive evidence of microbialites in the Martian outcroppings: i.e., the presence of unicellular life on the ancient Mars.