Dwarf Workpersons in the Carbonate Factory -- an
Examination of the Fantastic Roles that Nannobacteria Play in the Precipitation
of Carbonate
Robert Folk
(Department of Geological Sciences, Universityof Texas at Austin, Austin,
Texas, USA)
14th Symposium on the Geology of the Bahamas and Other
Carbonate Regions held at Gerace Research Centre, San Salvador Island, Bahamas
13 June 2008
Nannobacteria
(preferred geologic spelling) vs. nanobacteria (widely used spelling).
Folk
has fallen in love with Italy in recent years. In Rome, St. Peters’s is
made of travertine. Then, looked at hot springs travertine. The hot
water here comes out at 60° C. Hot water deposits have trigonal calcite
crystals and aragonite needles.
Sulfur
bacteria are in flowing hot springs - long streamers, ~1µ long and many
centimeters long. These lithify quickly. Can see aragonite
spherulites under the SEM.
Viterbo
hot springs calcite - saw normal bacteria, ~1.5µ in size, and some mucus
strands. These are normal bacteria.
Etched
aragonite spherulites from Viterbo hot springs under SEM show lots of ~1/60µ
balls below the aragonite needles. There are such things as nannobacteria
- they are ~1/10 the size of normal bacteria.
Bacteriologists
have claimed that 0.2µ is the lower limit of life. Well, there is
a gradation in size below that level. 0.2µ is not a magic cutoff
point.
Bacterial
cell walls are negatively charged, so it attracts Ca+2 ions -
bacteria get calcified.
Nannobacteria
are dwarf bacteria ranging in size from 0.2µ to 0.05µ. They occur as
balls, rods, chains of balls.
Under
the SEM, have seen fuzzy dumbbells of aragonite needles, strands, and calcified
bacterial cells.
Why
is there calcite sometimes in these hot springs? Why is there aragonite
sometimes in these hot springs?
It
depends on the temperature of the water (>40° C - get aragonite;
<40° C - get calcite) and the Mg/Ca ratio in the water (>1.0 - get
aragonite, like marine water; <1.0 - get calcite).
Can
see a complete transition in nannobacterial size from 0.2µ to 0.05µ, maybe even
down to 30 nm (0.03µ). This is pushing the envelope for the size of life.
Entire
calcite crystals can be seen to be composed entirely of little balls (=
nannobacteria).
At
the end of aragonite needles, nannobacterial balls can be seen.
Have
seen aragonite, calcite, dolomite all forming at the same time.
Green
slime from a hot spring - has aragonite fuzzy dumbbells. TEM images show
matrix between dumbbells - matrix is full of biologic material (bacteria and
nannobacteria). 200 nm is not the lower limit of life.
Great
Salt Lake oolites (Utah) - have concentric banding - all aragonite (high
Mg/Ca ratio in Great Salt Lake waters). Found nannobacteria in etched
Great Salt Lake oolites. Aragonite needles in oolites - end-on views of
aragonite needles are full of nannobacteria. They are doing the work of
CaCO3 precipitation.
It’s
not a new idea that oolites are related to organic matter, but
high-magnification SEM study hasn’t been done. Geochemists traditionally
think oolites are great examples of inorganic precipitation.
Bahamas
oolites - they turn black when put in an oven - the organic matter maturates.
Oolites have to have organic matter in the interior in order to do this.
Lots
of cyanobacterial (apparently) borings occur in oolites.
Concentric
banding in oolites consists of mucus band-aragonite needles-mucus band -
aragonite needles, etc. This is what causes oolite
concentricity. Concentricity is regular and periodic - don’t know
why yet - may be a geochemical proceses.
Oolite
aragonite needles are formed by nannobacteria.
Inorganic
aragonite needles - have hexagonal shaped ends. Can see crystal faces
& edges.
Organic
aragonite needles - have elliptical shaped ends.
Viruses
are a little smaller than nannobacteria.
Some
of the carbonate we see may have been precipitated by viruses.
Published
Persian Gulf nannoballs from the 1970s - interpreted here as nannobacteria.
Ancient limestones -
Triassic Portoro Limestone of Italy - etched samples have nannobacterial-sized
balls also.
This
has also been seen in Ordovician limestones and Australian Proterozoic
limestones.
Dolomite
crystals have been formed by nannobacteria - built layer on layer like billiard
balls on a table.
Negatively
charged cells walls attract Ca and Mg - get dolomite.
Laguna
Madre, Texas dolomite - saw nannobacterial bodies.
There
are non-nannobacterial constructed carbonates (dolomite, for example).
One
can tell the difference between organic and inorganic dolomite.
Unwanted
calcium deposits occur in the human body - nannobacteria turn out to be the
cause. Medical scientists have acknowledged the existence and validity of
nannobacteria. Non-medicine biologists tend not to.
Kidney
stones & cataracts with calcification - nannobacteria are doing the work.
Arterial
blockages of calcium phosphate - done by nannobacteria.
Nannobacteria
can catch and lithify together red blood cells.
40
nm wide - the size of Martian nannobacterial strands - they are the size
of life forms.
Can
see the same nannobacteria
in Martian rocks as on Earth. There is extraterrestrial life.
Can
see the same size range in nannobacterial balls from the Proterozoic to the
modern.
Even
in non-etched samples, can see nannobacteria. They are better seen
in etched samples. They are not artifacts of etching.
Precipitation is a by-product
of nannobacterial physiology.
Charged
cell walls attract cations.
Bacteria
and nannobacteria are like humans - there’s lots of them, but there are very
few in the Sahara vs. tons of them in New York City. So, bacteria and
nannobacteria have a patchy distribution on Earth - probably based on a patchy
food distribution.
Theoretical
arguments on the lower limit of life are based on unwarranted
assumptions - you could have short DNA chains and very few ribosomes in
a cells, despite the conclusions of an anti-nannobacteria conference in
Washington D.C. in 1999.
The
medical community mostly accepts the validity of nannobacteria.
Microbiologists
mostly don’t accept the validity of nannobacteria yet.
Why
aren’t these balls viruses? Nannobacteria can be cultured without
large bacterial cells present. Viruses need other cells to
reproduce. They are clearly not viruses.
