For a large part of earth's history, cyanobacterial mats thrived in low‐oxygen conditions, yet our understanding of their ecological functioning is limited. Extant cyanobacterial mats provide windows into the putative functioning of ancient ecosystems, and they continue to mediate biogeochemical transformations and nutrient transport across the sediment–water interface in modern ecosystems. The structure and function of benthic mats are shaped by biogeochemical processes in underlying sediments. A modern cyanobacterial mat system in a submerged sinkhole of Lake Huron (
The processes that lead to the precipitation of authigenic calcium phosphate minerals in certain marine pore waters remain poorly understood. Phosphogenesis occurs in sediments beneath some oceanic upwelling zones that harbor polyphosphate‐accumulating bacteria. These bacteria are believed to concentrate phosphate in sediment pore waters, creating supersaturated conditions with respect to apatite precursors. However, the relationship between microbes and phosphorite formation is not fully resolved. To further study this association, we examined microbial community data generated from two sources: sediment cores recovered from the shelf of the Benguela upwelling region where phosphorites are currently forming, and
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10078323
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geobiology
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 1472-4677
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 76-90
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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