Mineral–microbe interactions play important roles in environmental change, biogeochemical
cycling of elements and formation of ore deposits. Minerals provide both beneficial (physical …

Microbial mats are ecosystems that arguably greatly affected the conditions of the biosphere
on Earth through geological time. These laminated organosedimentary systems, which date …

Molluscs comprise the second largest phylum of animals (after arthropods), occurring in
virtually all habitats. Some are commercially important, a few are pests and some carry …

The 'Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event'(GOBE) saw a spectacular increase in marine
biodiversity at all taxonomic levels largely within the phyla established much earlier during …

Biotic activities are involved in almost all sedimentation processes throughout the
evolutionary history of life on our planet. However, deep-time organism-induced …

Hard, or stony, corals make rocks that can, on geological time scales, lead to the formation of
massive reefs in shallow tropical and subtropical seas. In both historical and contemporary …

Stromatolites are abundant in shallow marine sediments deposited before the evolution of
animals, but in the modern ocean they are restricted to locations where the activity of …

Abstract The Araripe Basin, located in northeastern Brazil, originated during the Gondwana
continental break-up responsible for the opening of the South Atlantic during the Early …

Microbial carbonates were major components of early Paleozoic reefs until coral-
stromatoporoid-bryozoan reefs appeared in the mid-Ordovician. Microbial reefs were …

Recovery from the devastating Permian–Triassic mass extinction about 252 million years
ago is usually assumed to have spanned the entire 5 million years of the Early Triassic …