Microbial mats are ecosystems that arguably greatly affected the conditions of the biosphere
on Earth through geological time. These laminated organosedimentary systems, which date …

The search for traces of life is one of the principal objectives of Mars exploration. Central to
this objective is the concept of habitability, the set of conditions that allows the appearance …

Hydrocarbon seeps and hydrothermal vents are now known to be common at continental
margins and oceanic spreading centers worldwide, exuding fluids rich in CH4 and H2S, and …

Stromatolites are abundant in shallow marine sediments deposited before the evolution of
animals, but in the modern ocean they are restricted to locations where the activity of …

Ironstones and iron-rich limestones regularly occur as components of time-specific intervals
of the Palaeozoic as well as in younger times (Brett et al., 2012--this issue). Silurian …

This chapter summarizes information about ancient hydrocarbon seeps from around the
world. The information is organized into two tables, one comprising both Americas and …

One of the main limitations to understanding the evolutionary history of hydrothermal vent
and cold seep communities is the identification of tube fossils from ancient deposits. Tube …

Introduction In this encyclopedia, microbialite is discussed under two chapters:(1) modern
and (2) fossil. This part discusses modern microbialites, with emphasis on processes of …

Brachiopods were thought to have dominated deep-sea hydrothermal vents and
hydrocarbon seeps for most of the Paleozoic and Mesozoic, and were believed to have …

The temporally and geographically scattered Phanerozoic record of methane-seep deposits
hampers reconstruction of the evolution of life in chemosynthesis-based ecosystems. Unlike …