The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes

Autores
Farías, María E.; Rascovan, Nicolás; Toneatti, Diego M.; Albarracín, Virginia H.; Flores, María R.; Poiré, Daniel Gustavo; Collavino, Mónica Mariana; Aguilar, Orlando Mario; Vázquez, Martín P.; Polerecky, Lubos
Año de publicación
2013
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
We describe stromatolites forming at an altitude of 3570 m at the shore of a volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes. The water at the site of stromatolites formation is alkaline, hypersaline, rich in inorganic nutrients, very rich in arsenic, and warm (20-24°C) due to a hydrothermal input. The stromatolites do not lithify, but form broad, rounded and low-domed bioherms dominated by diatom frustules and aragonite micro-crystals agglutinated by extracellular substances. In comparison to other modern stromatolites, they harbour an atypical microbial community characterized by highly abundant representatives of Deinococcus-Thermus, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobacterales and Spirochaetes. Additionally, a high proportion of the sequences that could not be classified at phylum level showed less than 80% identity to the best hit in the NCBI database, suggesting the presence of novel distant lineages. The primary production in the stromatolites is generally high and likely dominated by Microcoleus sp. Through negative phototaxis, the location of these cyanobacteria in the stromatolites is controlled by UV light, which greatly influences their photosynthetic activity. Diatoms, dominated by Amphora sp., are abundant in the anoxic, sulfidic and essentially dark parts of the stromatolites. Although their origin in the stromatolites is unclear, they are possibly an important source of anaerobically degraded organic matter that induces in situ aragonite precipitation. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest altitude with documented actively forming stromatolites. Their generally rich, diverse and to a large extent novel microbial community likely harbours valuable genetic and proteomic reserves, and thus deserves active protection. Furthermore, since the stromatolites flourish in an environment characterized by a multitude of extremes, including high exposure to UV radiation, they can be an excellent model system for studying microbial adaptations under conditions that, at least in part, resemble those during the early phase of life evolution on Earth.
Instituto de Biotecnologia y Biologia Molecular (IBBM)
Materia
Ciencias Exactas
Biología
Geología
Argentina
Deinococcus
Desulfobacterales
microbial community
physical chemistry
Rhodobacteraceae
species diversity
species dominance
stromatolite
Altitude
Arsenic
Base Sequence
Biological Evolution
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
DNA, Bacterial
Ecosystem
Geologic Sediments
Phylogeny
Salinity
Spirochaeta
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Repositorio
SEDICI (UNLP)
Institución
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
OAI Identificador
oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/34052

id SEDICI_47d26092cf31594c490da758f1e3435d
oai_identifier_str oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/34052
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repository_id_str 1329
network_name_str SEDICI (UNLP)
spelling The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean AndesFarías, María E.Rascovan, NicolásToneatti, Diego M.Albarracín, Virginia H.Flores, María R.Poiré, Daniel GustavoCollavino, Mónica MarianaAguilar, Orlando MarioVázquez, Martín P.Polerecky, LubosCiencias ExactasBiologíaGeologíaArgentinaDeinococcusDesulfobacteralesmicrobial communityphysical chemistryRhodobacteraceaespecies diversityspecies dominancestromatoliteAltitudeArsenicBase SequenceBiological EvolutionCyanobacteriaDiatomsDNA, BacterialEcosystemGeologic SedimentsPhylogenySalinitySpirochaetaWe describe stromatolites forming at an altitude of 3570 m at the shore of a volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes. The water at the site of stromatolites formation is alkaline, hypersaline, rich in inorganic nutrients, very rich in arsenic, and warm (20-24°C) due to a hydrothermal input. The stromatolites do not lithify, but form broad, rounded and low-domed bioherms dominated by diatom frustules and aragonite micro-crystals agglutinated by extracellular substances. In comparison to other modern stromatolites, they harbour an atypical microbial community characterized by highly abundant representatives of Deinococcus-Thermus, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobacterales and Spirochaetes. Additionally, a high proportion of the sequences that could not be classified at phylum level showed less than 80% identity to the best hit in the NCBI database, suggesting the presence of novel distant lineages. The primary production in the stromatolites is generally high and likely dominated by Microcoleus sp. Through negative phototaxis, the location of these cyanobacteria in the stromatolites is controlled by UV light, which greatly influences their photosynthetic activity. Diatoms, dominated by Amphora sp., are abundant in the anoxic, sulfidic and essentially dark parts of the stromatolites. Although their origin in the stromatolites is unclear, they are possibly an important source of anaerobically degraded organic matter that induces in situ aragonite precipitation. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest altitude with documented actively forming stromatolites. Their generally rich, diverse and to a large extent novel microbial community likely harbours valuable genetic and proteomic reserves, and thus deserves active protection. Furthermore, since the stromatolites flourish in an environment characterized by a multitude of extremes, including high exposure to UV radiation, they can be an excellent model system for studying microbial adaptations under conditions that, at least in part, resemble those during the early phase of life evolution on Earth.Instituto de Biotecnologia y Biologia Molecular (IBBM)2013info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionArticulohttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/34052enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/issn/1932-6203info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0053497info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)reponame:SEDICI (UNLP)instname:Universidad Nacional de La Platainstacron:UNLP2025-09-29T10:57:12Zoai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/34052Institucionalhttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/Universidad públicaNo correspondehttp://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/oai/snrdalira@sedici.unlp.edu.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:13292025-09-29 10:57:13.1SEDICI (UNLP) - Universidad Nacional de La Platafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
title The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
spellingShingle The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
Farías, María E.
Ciencias Exactas
Biología
Geología
Argentina
Deinococcus
Desulfobacterales
microbial community
physical chemistry
Rhodobacteraceae
species diversity
species dominance
stromatolite
Altitude
Arsenic
Base Sequence
Biological Evolution
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
DNA, Bacterial
Ecosystem
Geologic Sediments
Phylogeny
Salinity
Spirochaeta
title_short The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
title_full The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
title_fullStr The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
title_full_unstemmed The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
title_sort The discovery of Stromatolites developing at 3570 m above sea level in a high-altitude volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Farías, María E.
Rascovan, Nicolás
Toneatti, Diego M.
Albarracín, Virginia H.
Flores, María R.
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Collavino, Mónica Mariana
Aguilar, Orlando Mario
Vázquez, Martín P.
Polerecky, Lubos
author Farías, María E.
author_facet Farías, María E.
Rascovan, Nicolás
Toneatti, Diego M.
Albarracín, Virginia H.
Flores, María R.
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Collavino, Mónica Mariana
Aguilar, Orlando Mario
Vázquez, Martín P.
Polerecky, Lubos
author_role author
author2 Rascovan, Nicolás
Toneatti, Diego M.
Albarracín, Virginia H.
Flores, María R.
Poiré, Daniel Gustavo
Collavino, Mónica Mariana
Aguilar, Orlando Mario
Vázquez, Martín P.
Polerecky, Lubos
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Ciencias Exactas
Biología
Geología
Argentina
Deinococcus
Desulfobacterales
microbial community
physical chemistry
Rhodobacteraceae
species diversity
species dominance
stromatolite
Altitude
Arsenic
Base Sequence
Biological Evolution
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
DNA, Bacterial
Ecosystem
Geologic Sediments
Phylogeny
Salinity
Spirochaeta
topic Ciencias Exactas
Biología
Geología
Argentina
Deinococcus
Desulfobacterales
microbial community
physical chemistry
Rhodobacteraceae
species diversity
species dominance
stromatolite
Altitude
Arsenic
Base Sequence
Biological Evolution
Cyanobacteria
Diatoms
DNA, Bacterial
Ecosystem
Geologic Sediments
Phylogeny
Salinity
Spirochaeta
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv We describe stromatolites forming at an altitude of 3570 m at the shore of a volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes. The water at the site of stromatolites formation is alkaline, hypersaline, rich in inorganic nutrients, very rich in arsenic, and warm (20-24°C) due to a hydrothermal input. The stromatolites do not lithify, but form broad, rounded and low-domed bioherms dominated by diatom frustules and aragonite micro-crystals agglutinated by extracellular substances. In comparison to other modern stromatolites, they harbour an atypical microbial community characterized by highly abundant representatives of Deinococcus-Thermus, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobacterales and Spirochaetes. Additionally, a high proportion of the sequences that could not be classified at phylum level showed less than 80% identity to the best hit in the NCBI database, suggesting the presence of novel distant lineages. The primary production in the stromatolites is generally high and likely dominated by Microcoleus sp. Through negative phototaxis, the location of these cyanobacteria in the stromatolites is controlled by UV light, which greatly influences their photosynthetic activity. Diatoms, dominated by Amphora sp., are abundant in the anoxic, sulfidic and essentially dark parts of the stromatolites. Although their origin in the stromatolites is unclear, they are possibly an important source of anaerobically degraded organic matter that induces in situ aragonite precipitation. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest altitude with documented actively forming stromatolites. Their generally rich, diverse and to a large extent novel microbial community likely harbours valuable genetic and proteomic reserves, and thus deserves active protection. Furthermore, since the stromatolites flourish in an environment characterized by a multitude of extremes, including high exposure to UV radiation, they can be an excellent model system for studying microbial adaptations under conditions that, at least in part, resemble those during the early phase of life evolution on Earth.
Instituto de Biotecnologia y Biologia Molecular (IBBM)
description We describe stromatolites forming at an altitude of 3570 m at the shore of a volcanic lake Socompa, Argentinean Andes. The water at the site of stromatolites formation is alkaline, hypersaline, rich in inorganic nutrients, very rich in arsenic, and warm (20-24°C) due to a hydrothermal input. The stromatolites do not lithify, but form broad, rounded and low-domed bioherms dominated by diatom frustules and aragonite micro-crystals agglutinated by extracellular substances. In comparison to other modern stromatolites, they harbour an atypical microbial community characterized by highly abundant representatives of Deinococcus-Thermus, Rhodobacteraceae, Desulfobacterales and Spirochaetes. Additionally, a high proportion of the sequences that could not be classified at phylum level showed less than 80% identity to the best hit in the NCBI database, suggesting the presence of novel distant lineages. The primary production in the stromatolites is generally high and likely dominated by Microcoleus sp. Through negative phototaxis, the location of these cyanobacteria in the stromatolites is controlled by UV light, which greatly influences their photosynthetic activity. Diatoms, dominated by Amphora sp., are abundant in the anoxic, sulfidic and essentially dark parts of the stromatolites. Although their origin in the stromatolites is unclear, they are possibly an important source of anaerobically degraded organic matter that induces in situ aragonite precipitation. To the best of our knowledge, this is so far the highest altitude with documented actively forming stromatolites. Their generally rich, diverse and to a large extent novel microbial community likely harbours valuable genetic and proteomic reserves, and thus deserves active protection. Furthermore, since the stromatolites flourish in an environment characterized by a multitude of extremes, including high exposure to UV radiation, they can be an excellent model system for studying microbial adaptations under conditions that, at least in part, resemble those during the early phase of life evolution on Earth.
publishDate 2013
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2013
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info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0053497
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