Living Stromatolites
June 08, 2020
Photographer: Claire Konig
Summary Authors: Claire Konig; Jim Foster
Shown above are living stromatolites in Hamelin Pool, on the coast of Western Australia. Stromatolites have been around since the Precambrian; at that time there were no creatures with shells or bones. Thus, these microbial mats played an important role in increasing the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere of the primeval Earth. Photosynthetic cyanobacteria remove carbon dioxide from water and as a result calcium carbonate precipitates onto the mat-like colonies that they form.