Calcium dynamics in microbialite-forming exopolymer-rich mats on the atoll of Kiritimati, Republic of Kiribati, Central Pacific

Abstract

Microbialite-forming microbial mats in a hypersaline lake on the atoll of Kiritimati were investigated with respect to microgradients, bulk water chemistry, and microbial community composition. O-2, H2S, and pH microgradients show patterns as commonly observed for phototrophic mats with cyanobacteria-dominated primary production in upper layers, an intermediate purple layer with sulfide oxidation, and anaerobic bottom layers with sulfate reduction. Ca2+ profiles, however, measured in daylight showed an increase of Ca2+ with depth in the oxic zone, followed by a sharp decline and low concentrations in anaerobic mat layers. In contrast, dark measurements show a constant Ca2+ concentration throughout the entire measured depth. This is explained by an oxygen-dependent heterotrophic decomposition of Ca2+-binding exopolymers. Strikingly, the daylight maximum in Ca2+ and subsequent drop coincides with a major zone of aragonite and gypsum precipitation at the transition from the cyanobacterial layer to the purple sulfur bacterial layer. Therefore, we suggest that Ca2+ binding exopolymers function as Ca2+ shuttle by their passive downward transport through compression, triggering aragonite precipitation in the mats upon their aerobic microbial decomposition and secondary Ca2+ release. This precipitation is mediated by phototrophic sulfide oxidizers whose action additionally leads to the precipitation of part of the available Ca2+ as gypsum.