Seawater Mg/Ca controls polymorph mineralogy of microbial CaCO3: a potential proxy for calcite-aragonite seas in Precambrian time

Geobiology. 2008 Mar;6(2):106-19. doi: 10.1111/j.1472-4669.2007.00134.x.

Abstract

A previously published hydrothermal brine-river water mixing model driven by ocean crust production suggests that the molar Mg/Ca ratio of seawater (mMg/Ca(sw)) has varied significantly (approximately 1.0-5.2) over Precambrian time, resulting in six intervals of aragonite-favouring seas (mMg/Ca(sw) > 2) and five intervals of calcite-favouring seas (mMg/Ca(sw) < 2) since the Late Archaean. To evaluate the viability of microbial carbonates as mineralogical proxy for Precambrian calcite-aragonite seas, calcifying microbial marine biofilms were cultured in experimental seawaters formulated over the range of Mg/Ca ratios believed to have characterized Precambrian seawater. Biofilms cultured in experimental aragonite seawater (mMg/Ca(sw) = 5.2) precipitated primarily aragonite with lesser amounts of high-Mg calcite (mMg/Ca(calcite) = 0.16), while biofilms cultured in experimental calcite seawater (mMg/Ca(sw) = 1.5) precipitated exclusively lower magnesian calcite (mMg/Ca(calcite) = 0.06). Furthermore, Mg/Ca(calcite )varied proportionally with Mg/Ca(sw). This nearly abiotic mineralogical response of the biofilm CaCO3 to altered Mg/Ca(sw) is consistent with the assertion that biofilm calcification proceeds more through the elevation of , via metabolic removal of CO2 and/or H+, than through the elevation of Ca2+, which would alter the Mg/Ca ratio of the biofilm's calcifying fluid causing its pattern of CaCO3 polymorph precipitation (aragonite vs. calcite; Mg-incorporation in calcite) to deviate from that of abiotic calcification. If previous assertions are correct that the physicochemical properties of Precambrian seawater were such that Mg/Ca(sw) was the primary variable influencing CaCO3 polymorph mineralogy, then the observed response of the biofilms' CaCO3 polymorph mineralogy to variations in Mg/Ca(sw), combined with the ubiquity of such microbial carbonates in Precambrian strata, suggests that the original polymorph mineralogy and Mg/Ca(calcite )of well-preserved microbial carbonates may be an archive of calcite-aragonite seas throughout Precambrian time. These results invite a systematic evaluation of microbial carbonate primary mineralogy to empirically constrain Precambrian seawater Mg/Ca.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Bacteria / classification
  • Bacteria / genetics
  • Bacteria / growth & development
  • Bacteria / metabolism*
  • Biofilms / growth & development
  • Calcium / analysis*
  • Calcium Carbonate / analysis
  • Calcium Carbonate / chemistry*
  • Calcium Carbonate / metabolism
  • Chemical Precipitation
  • Ecosystem
  • Fossils
  • Geologic Sediments / microbiology
  • Geological Phenomena
  • Geology
  • Magnesium / analysis*
  • Paleontology
  • Seawater / chemistry*
  • Seawater / microbiology
  • Time

Substances

  • Calcium Carbonate
  • Magnesium
  • Calcium