Modern freshwater microbialite analogues for ancient dendritic reef structures

Microbialites are organosedimentary structures that can be constructed by a variety of metabolically distinct taxa1. Consequently, microbialite structures abound in the fossil record, although the exact nature of the biogeochemical processes that produced them is often unknown2. One such class of ancient calcareous structures3,4,5, Epiphyton and Girvanella, appear in great abundance during the Early Cambrian. Together with Archeocyathids, …