23 Paleontology/Paleobotany (Posters) I: Paleoecology, Taphonomy, and Early Life
Sunday, 22 October 2006
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MODERN ANALOG FOR SPHEROIDAL MICROFOSSILS
Paper number: 23-11
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Authors
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Andrew KnollHarvard Univ, Cambridge, MA
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Rebecca HelmEckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL
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Craig MarshallUniversity of Sydney, Sydney, N/A
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Roger SummonsMassachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
Abstract
We have examined the chemical nature and ultrastructure of putative green algal microfossils and their modern analogs. This is the first chemical and ultrastructure analysis of the modern prasinophyte green algal phycoma Halosphaera sp? which has previously been affiliated with leiospherid microfossils. Pyrolysis Gas Chromotography Mass Spectrometry, micro Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Transmission Electron Microscopy have been used to analyze modern phycoma, microbially degradated phycoma, thermally matured phycoma and fossil leiospherids. Our work agrees with ideas that leiospherid microfossils could represent fossilized phycoma and contributes to new ideas about microfossil preservation.