微生物席沉积学:一个年轻的沉积学分支

Microbial-mat Sedimentology:A Young Branch fron Sedimentology

现代实例和岩石记录的研究表明,微生物席是一个特别的微生物群落,这个特殊的微生物群落就像一个复杂的食物网一样,群落中的每一个组成成员紧密相互依赖,从而构成了地球上形成最早、延续时间最长的生态系。微生物席在沉积岩中留下了丰富而且复杂的记录,在碳酸盐岩中最为典型的产物就是叠层石,在碎屑岩中最具有代表性的产物就是"微生物诱发的沉积构造(M ISS)"。对这些特殊沉积记录的长期研究和探索,产生了沉积学在地球生物框架下的一个年轻分支——"微生物席沉积学";这个以微生物席为研究对象的年轻的沉积学分支,在研究地球早期生命演变、探索生物圈对水圈和大气圈的长时间影响,具有重要意义。若干的新概念和新思维,赋予这个年轻的沉积学分支强大的生命力,同时也代表了沉积学在近年来的一个重要进展之一。

Lots of studies on the microbial mat from the modern examples to the rock records show that the microbial mat is actually a complex microbial community.Just like a complex food web,microbial mats are communities of micro-organisms in which each member depends and is depended on by others in the community.Importantly,this special microbial community forms abundant and sophisticated records in sedimentary rocks.For these records,the stromatolite is the typical represent of microbial mats in carbonate rocks,and the MISS（Microbial induced sedimentary structure） is the representative product that is related to microbial mats in siliclastic rocks.Long-term researches on these special records result in a young branch of sedimentology,i.e.＂microbial-mat sedimentology＂ within the framework of geobiology,which plays a key role in the further studies of the evolution of the early life and in the further understanding of the evolutional rules of both the atmosphere and the hydrosphere in the earth.Lots of new concepts and thoughts have provided this young branch of sedimentology with the powerful vitality,which marks an important advancement of sedimentology.