Environmental controls on the distribution of life in shallow seas on the early Earth in the 3.33 Ga Josefsdal Chert, Barberton Greenstone Belt

The 3.33 Ga Josefsdal Chert in the Barberton Greenstone Belt, South Africa, records a sequence of sediments deposited under shifting energy conditions in a nearshore paleoenvironment (1, 2). At the base, volcanoclastic sediments were deposited under somewhat dynamic conditions on top of pillow basalt and hydrothermal chert. They grade gradually upwards into alternating deposits of chemical silica and very fine scale microbialites tabular phototrophic mats) formed under very quiet conditions frequently interrupted by storm currents, which then transitioned sharply into thinly bedded tuffs with much hydrothermal activity at the base. Growth faults permitted thick sequences of very shallow sediments to accumulate. While the REE data show the global, background Eu signature of hydrothermal influence throughout, local Sm/Yb:Eu/Sm ratios document local hydrothermal hot spots. Fluvial inflow is documented by flat REE patterns in the middle to upper sequences (2).

Within this environmental background, microbialites abound, their nature (phototrophic/chemotrophic), distribution and preservation being influenced by environmental factors, such as water depth (phototrophy), sedimentation flux, and hydrothermal vents and activity. Phototrophic activity was abundant during the middle, volcanically quiet period and was present also during the lower and upper volcanoclastic depositional periods, with biofilms and mats forming on the tops of individual fining upwards layers (3,4). Chemotrophic colonies were abundant in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents (5). Amost instantaneous silicification of both sediments and the microbialites resulted in excellent preservation, although the organo-geochemical signatures are heavily diluted (SiO₂ contents ranging from ~ 90-99.9%). Biogenicity of the different microbialites was evaluated on the basis of their morphology, interactions with the immediately surrounding sediment and environmental conditions (e.g.current flow), organic carbon and δ¹³C compositions, as well as their transition element compositions and the presence of minerals precipitated as by-products of microbial metabolism (e.g. aragonite, sulphate). Periodic exposure of some of the phototrophic biofilms, as indicated by desiccation and entrapped layers of pseudomorphed evaporite minerals (aragonite, calcite, gypsum, and halite)(3,4), as well as desiccation texture on certain bedding planes, indicates a littoral, on shore environment of formation.

(1) Westall, F. et al., 2015, Geology, 43, 615; (2) Westall, F., Bréhéret, J. et al. in prep.; (3) Westall, F. et al., 2006, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B., 361, 1857; (4) Westall, F. et al., 2011, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 310, 468; (5) Hickman-Lewis, K., et al. 2020, Sci Rep 10, 4965.