Aluminous phyllosilicates promote exceptional nanoscale preservation of biogeochemical heterogeneities in Archaean siliciclastic microbial mats

Keyron Hickman-Lewis (), Javier Cuadros, Keewook Yi, Tae Eun Hong, Mirang Byeon, Jae Hyuck Jang, Min-Yeong Choi, YoonKyung Seo, Jens Najorka, Wren Montgomery, Krzysztof Matlak, Barbara Wolanin, Caroline L. Smith and Barbara Cavalazzi
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Keyron Hickman-Lewis: University of London
Javier Cuadros: Natural History Museum
Keewook Yi: Cheongju-si
Tae Eun Hong: Korea Basic Science Institute
Mirang Byeon: Korea Basic Science Institute
Jae Hyuck Jang: Yuseong-gu
Min-Yeong Choi: Yuseong-gu
YoonKyung Seo: Yuseong-gu
Jens Najorka: Natural History Museum
Wren Montgomery: Natural History Museum
Krzysztof Matlak: Jagiellonian University
Barbara Wolanin: Jagiellonian University
Caroline L. Smith: Natural History Museum
Barbara Cavalazzi: Università di Bologna

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Exceptional preservation of biogeochemical complexity in the Precambrian is largely limited to cherts, phosphates and shales; however, ancient fossils, including microbial mats and microbially induced sedimentary structures, also occur, more rarely, in poorly sorted, coarse-grained siliciclastics. The precise micromechanics by which exceptional retention of organic microbial traces occur within such rocks over billion-year geological timescales remain poorly understood. Herein, we explore the micro–nano-scale characteristics of microbial mats preserved in ~2.9 billion-year-old sandstones from the Mosquito Creek Formation (Pilbara, Australia) using a suite of advanced spatially correlated microscopy and geochemistry techniques. We demonstrate that sedimentary horizons rich in K–Al-phyllosilicates exhibit exceptional and unexpected preservation of biogeochemical complexity despite the age and metamorphic grade of the sequence. We propose that authigenic phyllosilicates intercalated with microbial kerogen at the nanoscale promote the preservation of nanoscopic domains of poorly ordered amorphous and turbostratic carbonaceous materials through pressure compensation associated with the kaolinite–illite transition during burial diagenesis and metamorphism, impeding the maturation of organic materials. Elucidating organic preservation in coarse-grained siliciclastics opens new avenues for biosignature searches both in ancient Earth sequences and on Mars, where similar phyllosilicate-bearing sandstones have been collected by the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover for near-future sample return.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57727-4

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