Rock surface diagenetic biosignatures of

fungal-carbonate substrates interaction as an

indication of ancient primitive life
K. Kolo
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Geology, Pleinlaan 2, 1050, Brussels.
(kakolo@vub.ac.be / Fax : +32 - (0)2 629 3391 / Tel +32-02 629 18 19)
Rock surfaces exposed to microbial attack can produce significant diagenetic biosig-
natures that can be evaluated by various analytical instruments. In this study, experi-
mental carbonate substrates (dolomites and limestones) are exposed in vitro, to fungal
attack. The selected rock samples were dolomites of Terwagne Formation (Viséan,
Bocahut quarry at Avesnes-sur-Helpe, northern France) and limestones of Morrone di
Pacentro Formation (Lower Cretaceous, Italy). Fungi growing in Petri dishes from air-
borne spores attacked petrographic thin sections and rock chips. Rock surface diage-
nesis was periodically monitored under the optical microscope using duplicate petro-
graphic thin sections. The experiment ended after 15 days. The analyses of fungal ma-
terial (samples of mycelia), thin sections and chips under optical microscopy, scanning
electron microscope (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX),
Raman spectroscopy and stable isotopes (C and O) revealed the extent of microbial
diagenesis. The results pointed to strong characteristic diagenetic biosignatures: In-
tense substrate de-micritization and micritization by oxalates, grain bridging and ce-
mentation, void filling, formation of inter- and intragranular porosity, permeability
enhancement and significant mineral neoformations: α- and β-glushinskite, weddel-
lite, whewellite, a variation of Calcium oxalate hydrate, calcite and possibly struvite.
This is the first reporting on α- and β-glushinskite co-precipitation through fungal
interaction with rock substrates. Typical alveolar structures are formed. Neomineral
formation showed selective precipitation on grain boundaries and the production of
honey-comb structures. Advanced stages of diagenesis revealed complete digestion
and replacement of original lithologies by new substrates produced by fungal biomin-
eralization. The formation of the new substrates occurred directly on the original at-
tacked surface causing a micro-scale “biological stratification”. Stable isotopes anal-
yses carried out on fungal biomineralized material and on attacked and un-attacked
chips’ surfaces showed marked differences in their isotopic signatures suggesting frac-
tionation between the mineral neoformations within the fungal mass and the attacked
and unattacked surfaces. In sedimentary cycles, these differences could perhaps define
a biological diagenetic isotopic signature. The results of this experimental study sug-
gest that fungi interacting with rock substrates can produce a pattern of measurable
signatures that are specific to the microbial action. Similar forms found in nature, on

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earth or other planets would be a favourable indication of ancient or present primitive
life forms.