Jozef Kazmierczak

Institute of Paleobiology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland · Biogeology Department

The role of Silurian benthic cyanobacterial mats in precipitation of authigenic silicathes is described.

In order to test the systematic position of archaeocyaths, a group of Cambrian, exclusively marine fossils of unclear biological affinity, currently ascribed mostly to sponges (Porifera), we present an alternative explanation supporting the early idea of siphonous green algal affinity of archaeocyaths. The new arguments are based on a study of the...

The finding of life on Mars, existing now or in the past, will certainly be one of the greatest adventures in the history of mankind. Further arguments are provided, strengthening an earlier claim, that among mineral bodies (dubbed "newberries"), imaged by the MER Opportunity in deposits of Late Noachian age (~3.8 to 3.6 Ga) exposed at the rim of E...

Studies of modern cyanobacterial mats and biofilms show that they can precipitate minerals as a consequence of metabolic and degradational activities paired with ambient hydrochemical conditions. This study looked at modern microbial mats forming giant, tower‐like, groundwater‐fed, calcareous microbialites in the world's largest, highly alkaline la...

The top surface of the Ediacaran flood basalts of West Ukraine (Volyn), extruded during the break-up of Rodinia supercontinent, is weathered into several meters thick paleosol, covered by late Ediacaran (ca. 550 Ma) sediments. The paleosol grades from unaltered basaltic material into saprock and finally clay-dominated saprolite with a minor content...

Fossil record of earliest Earth’s life is scant and restricted to simple kerogenous filaments and spheres, which origin and taxonomic affiliation are still ambiguous. Here we report clusters of cell-like bodies found in massive and weakly laminated black cherts of the ∼3.4 Ga Kromberg Formation (Onverwacht Group, Barberton greenstone belt, South Af...

Unequivocal evidence for Archean eukaryotic life has been long sought for and is a matter of lively debate. In the absence of unambiguous fossils this debate has focused on biogeochemical signatures and molecular phylogenies. Most researchers agree that fossil forms comparable with modern eukaryotic cells can be credibly identified only in Proteroz...

Ascertaining life on Mars may be done either indirectly, by identifying life-signaling bio-molecules or finding signatures of life-supporting processes on Mars, or directly, by demonstrating morphological forms of extant or ancient Martian life. Here, several objects photographed by the Microscopic Imager (MI) of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportun...

Well-preserved mycelia of fungal- or saprolegnia-like biota mineralised by ferromanganese oxides were found for the first time in long bones of Late Cretaceous dinosaurs from the Gobi Desert (Nemegt Valley, Mongolia). The mycelia formed a biofilm on the wall of the bone marrow cavity and penetrated the osteon channels of the nearby bone tissue. Opt...

Marine phytoplankton have developed the remarkable ability to tightly regulate the concentration of free calcium ions in the intracellular cytosol at a level of ~ 0.1 μmol L−1 in the presence of seawater Ca2+ concentrations of 10 mmol L−1. The low cytosolic calcium ion concentration is of utmost importance for proper cell signalling function. While...

Marine cyanobacterial mats were cultured on coastal sediments (Nivå Bay, Øresund, Denmark) for over three years in a closed system. Carbonate particles formed in two different modes in the mat: (i) through precipitation of submicrometer-sized grains of Mg calcite within the mucilage near the base of living cyanobacterial layers, and (ii) through pr...

Background: Sub-recent volcanic glass shards with microbial mineral coatings from a caldera lake on Niuafo’ou Island (Tonga) were studied. These are compared with structurally similar volcanic glass shards with mineral envelopes of purported microbial origin from the Paleoarchean (ca. 3.4 Ga) Kromberg Formation of the Barberton greenstone belt (Sou...

The possible role of Ca2+ as a promoter of the major steps in the evolution of early life is reviewed. The existing biological knowledge about the role of calcium in living systems is summarized and compared with the major bio-evolutionary events that occurred during the first three billion years of Earth's history. It is proposed that secular chan...

Bones, while buried, undergo diagenetic transformations, the intensity of which depends on a variety of geochemical factors. Microbial degradation is one of the main processes acting on bones during early diagenesis. We present mineral microspheres formed during bone diagenesis from the inner walls of the left tibia of the Late Cretaceous dinosaur...

The results of geological, hydrochemical and biosedimentological studies of two main caldera lakes, Vai Lahi and Vai Si‘i, on the volcanic Niuafo‘ou Island (Kingdom of Tonga) are presented. These slightly alkaline lakes support formation of carbonate sediments among which the most spectacular are calcareous cyanobacterial microbialites comparable w...

Mass occurrence of benthic cyanobacterial mats in a sequence of Late Devonian black shales and bituminous limestones of the Holy Cross Mts. (central Poland), enclosing the famous Kellwasser and Hangenberg extinction horizons, is reported. The microbiota forming the mats is compared with some modern benthic chroococcalean cyanobacteria. Similarly to...

Calcification and silicification processes of cyanobacterial mats that form stromatolites in two caldera lakes of Niuafo'ou Island (Vai Lahi and Vai Si'i) were evaluated, and their importance as analogues for interpreting the early fossil record are discussed. It has been shown that the potential for morphological preservation of Niuafo'ou cyanobac...

Organic-walled microfossils of uncertain origin, classified to an informal group named acritarchs, are most commonly interpreted as the resting cysts of marine eukaryotic phytoplankton. Some acritarchs have recently been interpreted as vegetative cells of chlorococcalean green algae, based on internal bodies that have been interpreted as their asex...

The results of geological, hydrochemical and biosedimentological studies of two main caldera lakes, Vai Lahi and Vai Si‘i, on the volcanic Niuafo‘ou Island (Kingdom of Tonga) are presented. These slightly alkaline lakes support formation of carbonate sediments among which the most spectacular are calcareous cyanobacterial microbialites comparable w...

Alchichica microbialites maintained in laboratory aquaria. A. Initial setting of microbialites fragments in aquaria with different photoperiods. B. Microbialites after one year of cultivation in aquaria. C. Measurements of pH and temperature over time. Orange symbols (aquarium 1); blue symbols, aquarium 2. Red bars indicate points at which aquaria...

Cluster analysis of DGGE fingerprints of bacteria associated to Alchichica microbialites. The name and depth of each sample are given on the right. AQ1 and AQ2 correspond to samples from laboratory aquaria. The scale bar above the dendrogram shows distances (%) between samples based on presence/absence of bands. Grey bars at nodes indicate the stan...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of alphaproteobacterial SSU rDNAs from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Relative proportions of the different OTUs in each sample are indicated by circles of proportional size on the right. The number (n) indicates the number total...

Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Chloroflexi and Chlorobi from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. Asterisks indicate OTUs also identified in DGGE patterns. The scale...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Bacteroidetes from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. Asterisks indicate OTUs also identified in DGGE patterns. The scale bar i...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Deltaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. The scale bar indicates the number of subst...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Gemmatimonadetes and Acidobacteria from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. The scale bar indicates the number of substitutions...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Actinobacteria and Firmicutes from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. Asterisks indicate OTUs also identified in DGGE patterns....

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Archaea from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given in brackets. The scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site for a unit branch l...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Betaproteobacteria from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. The scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site for a u...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Planctomycetales and Verrucomicrobia from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. The scale bar indicates the number of substitution...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of CD OP11, CD WS6, Deinoccocus-Thermus, CD SBR1, CD BRC1, CD NKB19, Nitrospira, CD TM6, CD OP3 and Spirochaeta from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Sequences from this study are in bold. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU ar...

Maximum likelihood (ML) phylogenetic tree of SSU rDNA sequences of Unikonts (Amoebozoa plus Opisthokonta) from Alchichica microbialites. Numbers at nodes indicate bootstrap values. Numbers of clones retrieved from each sample for each OTU are given on the right. The scale bar indicates the number of substitutions per site for a unit branch length....

Hypothetical model of carbonate formation dynamics based on known metabolisms of microbial lineages detected in Alchichica microbialites. The panels represent the activities that would occur during day (left) and; night (right) in areas where oxygenic (upper panels) or anoxygenic (lower panels) photosynthesis predominates. (TIF)

The geomicrobiology of crater lake microbialites remains largely unknown despite their evolutionary interest due to their resemblance to some Archaean analogs in the dominance of in situ carbonate precipitation over accretion. Here, we studied the diversity of archaea, bacteria and protists in microbialites of the alkaline Lake Alchichica from both...

The structure, mineralogy, and accretion processes of the modern and subfossil cyanobacterial microbialites from the alkaline crater lake Alchichica (Puebla, Mexico) were studied, along the lake's bathymetry and hydrochemistry. The recent lowering of the lake level had exposed microbialitic carbonate mounds and crusts, which emerged up to 2 m above...

Niuafo‘ou (Kingdom of Tonga) is a small volcanic island with a steep-walled 5-km-diameter caldera that reaches up to 205 m a.s.l. Within the caldera are several small lakes; two are documented to contain actively growing stromatolites: Vai Lahi (106 m deep) and Vai Si’i (31 m deep). Increased alkalinity in both lakes results in higher saturation wi...

Stromatolites have been extensively used as indicators of ancient life on Earth. Although much work has been done on modern stromatolites, the extent to which biological processes control their structure, and the respective contributions of biological and abiotic processes in their formation are, however, still poorly constrained. A better descript...

Sponges are rare in extreme environments, and very little is known about their adaptations to such settings. Evidence from two species in a marine-derived midwater stratified crater lake on Satonda Island (Sumbawa, Indonesia) suggests their production of gemmules (resting bodies), a rare trait in marine sponges but common in freshwater forms, may b...

We present discoveries of internal bodies in problematic Silurian and Devonian organic-walled microfossils classified traditionally as polygonomorph, acanthomorph, sphaeromorph, and herkomorph acritarchs. These bodies are comparable with reproductive structures (auto- and/or aplanospores) of modern unicellular green algae (Chlorococcales). Our find...

Diagenetic changes in thermally altered cyanobacterial mats from early Silurian black radiolarian cherts of southwestern Poland (Bardzkie Montains, Sudetes) have been studied. These early diagenetically silicified mats are composed of variously degraded remains of benthic microbes that resemble some modern chroococcalean and pleurocapsalean cyanoba...

Precambrian Research j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w . e l s e v i e r . c o m / l o c a t e / p r e c a m r e s a b s t r a c t The sparse Archean fossil record is based almost entirely on carbonaceous remnants of microorganisms cellularly preserved due to their early post-mortem silicification. Hitherto as an exception, sedimen-tary carbona...

Biochemical processes are thought to be responsible, directly or indirectly, for most of Earth’s 4,300 known mineral species (Hazen et al. 2008). The large scale formation of surface biomineral deposits began already in the Eoarchean Era (~3.85-3.6 Ga), probably soon after the early Earth’s litho- and hydrosphere were established. Since that time t...

We present discoveries of internal bodies in problematic Silurian and Devonian organic−walled microfossils classified traditionally as polygonomorph, acanthomorph, sphaeromorph, and herkomorph acritarchs. These bodies are comparable with reproductive structures (auto− and/or aplanospores) of modern unicellular green algae (Chlorococcales). Our find...

Precipitated calcium carbonate was found in annual cyanobacterial mats developing on the beaches of the North Sea barrier island Schiermonnikoog (the Netherlands). A variety of different calcium carbonate morphs were found in the cyanobacterial mucous secretions and identified by light- and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Most o...

Reported are findings of Neoarchean benthic colonial coccoid cyanobacteria preserved as abundant remnants of mineralized capsules and sheaths visible in SEM images as characteristic patterns after etching highly polished carbonate rock platelets. The samples described herein were collected from the Nauga Formation at Prieska (Kaapvaal craton, South...

New models suggest that terrestrial weathering consumes 0.26GtC/a (72% silicate-, 28% carbonateweathering), equivalent to a loss of one atmospheric C content every 3700a. Rapid weathering leads in volcanic areas to alkaline conditions, illustrated by the crater lake of Niuafo‘ou/Tonga and Lake Van/Turkey, the largest soda lake on Earth. Alkaline co...

Abundant pyritic pseudomorphs of monaxonic siliceous spicules (ophirhabds and ?heloclones) have been found entrapped in the calcareous skeleton of the halysitid tabulate Quepora ?agglomeratiformis (Whitfield) from late Ordovician limestones of Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Canada. The finding indicates a poriferan (choristid or sublithistid) affini...

A simple technique is described enabling the identification in scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of combined Iractured and etched stromatoporoid sections, the cyanobacteria-hkc coccoid aggregates building the entire stromatoporoid structure. The coccoid aggregates from stromatoporoids are closely related to extant calcified coccoid cyanobacteria...

The Middle Precambrian problematical microorganism Eosphaera Barghoorn and Eosphaera-like structures known from Early and Middle Precambrian banded iron formations have been compared with the recently discovered Devonian volvocacean alga Eovolvox Kaźmierczak and some modern colonial Volvocales. The volvocacean interpretation of Eosphaera implies th...

The crater lake of Satonda, a small volcanic island in Indonesia, is a seawater, slightly alkaline (pH 8.55), system that harbors apparent calcareous reefs along the shore. The hydrogeochemistry of the lake, as well as the composition of these structures at macroscopic and microscopic level was initially studied by Kempe and Kazmierczak (1). These...

Theoretical geochemical considerations (Kempe and Degens, 1985) and field work at sites of active growth of in situ calcified cyanobacterial mats and biofilms (e.g., Kempe et al., 1991; Kempe and Kazmierczak, 1993; Kazmierczak and Kempe, 2006) convinced us that in the past the ocean must have been more alkaline than at present and that it was of hi...

Microbially mediated calcification can be traced back for at least 2.6 billion years. Although morphological comparison of fossil and recent microbial carbonates suggests that mineralization processes associated with cyanobacteria and their interactions with heterotrophic bacteria have remained similar from the Archaean until today, the metabolic a...

Microbialites are sedimentary deposits associated with microbial mat communities and are thought to be evidence of some of the oldest life on Earth. Despite extensive studies of such deposits, little is known about the role of microorganisms in their formation. In addition, unambiguous criteria proving their biogenicity have yet to be established....

Calcareous or dolomitic, often secondarily silicified, laminated microbial structures known as stromatolites are important keys to reconstruct the chemical and biotic evolution of the early ocean. Most authors assume that cyanobacteria-associated microbialitic structures described from Shark Bay, Western Australia, and Exuma Sound, Bahamas, represe...

Remains of silicified microbial mats composed of benthic colonial coccoid cyanobacteria similar to modern entophysalidaceans and/or pleurocapsaleans have been identified in Lower Silurian black radiolarian cherts from central and southwestern Poland. Contrary to widespread views ascribing the genesis of such deposits to permanently anoxic deep-wate...

Lake Van harbors the largest known microbialites on Earth. The surface of these huge carbonate pinnacles is covered by coccoid cyanobacteria whereas their central axis is occupied by a channel through which neutral, relatively Ca-enriched, groundwater flows into highly alkaline (pH approximately 9.7) Ca-poor lake water. Previous microscopy observat...

Uniquely preserved Late Devonian calcispheres were found in a core of the deep borehole Sosnowiec IG-1 (Upper Silesia, southern Poland). These enigmatic calcareous microfossils are interpreted here as acritarchs that underwent an early post-mortem calcification. Remnants of organic walls preserved in the calcispheres suggest that they represent var...

Arp et al. (2003) present data which confirm and refine the results of our long-time studies (field campaigns of 1986, 1993, 1996) on Satonda Crater Lake (summarized in Kempe and Kazmierczak 1993). They re-iterate the importance of marine stratified water bodies in generating, through sulphate reduction, very high CaCO3 supersaturation levels. This...

Arp et al. (2003) present data which confirm and refine the results of our long-time studies (field campaigns of 1986, 1993, 1996) on Satonda Crater Lake (summarized in Kempe and Kazmierczak 1993). They re-iterate the importance of marine stratified water bodies in generating, through sulphate reduction, very high CaCO3 supersaturation levels. This...