N Planavsky, RP Reid, TW Lyons, KL Myshrall, PT Visscher

2009/12/1

Geobiology

7

5

566-576

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Abstract Calcified cyanobacterial microfossils are common in carbonate environments
through most of the Phanerozoic, but are absent from the marine rock record over the past
65 Myr. There has been long-standing debate on the factors controlling the formation and
temporal distribution of these fossils, fostered by the lack of a suitable modern analog. We
describe calcified cyanobacteria filaments in a modern marine reef setting at Highborne
Cay, Bahamas. Our observations and stable isotope data suggest that initial calcification ...