For the longest time in Earth's history, life evolved in microbial communities. It is, however, still incompletely understood how, when, and where their habitats formed and how microbial communities adapted to drastic changes of the atmosphere-hydrosphere-lithosphere systems through deep time. Stromatolites, i.e., lithified microbial mats that occur in sedimentary successions from at least 3.4 billion years ago, may hold the geochemical key to our understanding of the evolution of microbial life on Earth and other planets. We here propose high-resolution trace element and novel isotope applications in stromatolites that can be used to reconstruct the environmental conditions of the habitats in which the earliest life on Earth thrived. Behavior and fractionation processes in stromatolites and microbial mats are partly incompletely understood, yet our combined bio-essential metal and isotope (Ni, Cd, Ba, and Mg) approach has the unique potential to understand redox conditions, nutrient availability, and (biogenic) metal cycling processes in microbial habitats. We aim to bridge the gap between geochemistry and microbiology to better understand the evolution of microbial life on Earth and beyond and propose a new big data approach for researchers from all fields of bio- and geosciences by creating the worlds’ first free of charge stromatolite geochemical online data repository.

First and corresponding (*) author:

Hohl, S. V.*, Jiang, S.-Y., Becker, H., Wei, H.-Z., Wei, G.-Y., Xu, J., et al. (2022). Spatiotemporal evolution of late Neoproterozoic marine environments on the Yangtze Platform (South China): Linking continental weathering and marine C-P cycles. Global and Planetary Change, 103927. 

Hohl S. V.*, Rodler A. S., Viehmann S., Huang X., Xu J., Gaucher C., Germs G. J. B., Hegenberger W., Goderis S., Wei H. and Frei R. (2022). C, Sr, Nd isotope chemostratigraphy and zircon provenance of the Witvlei Group (Namibia): Neoproterozoic glaciations and seawater evolution. PrecambrianResearch, 372, 106600.

Hohl S. V.*, Schuth S., Münker C., König S., Garbe-Schönberg D. and Kuduon J. (2022). Geochemical evolution of the Rabaul volcanic complex, Papua New Guinea - Insights from HFSE, Sr-Nd-Hf, and Fe isotopes, Lithos, 408, 106560.

Hohl, S. V.*, & Viehmann, S. (2021). Stromatolites as geochemical archives to reconstruct microbial habitats through deep time: Potential and pitfalls of novel radiogenic and stable isotope systems. Earth-Science Reviews, 103683.

Hohl, S. V.*, Jiang, S.-Y., Wei, H.-Z., Pi, D.-H., Liu, Q., Viehmann, S., & Galer, S. J. (2019). Cd isotopes trace periodic (bio) geochemical metal cycling at the verge of the Cambrian animal evolution. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 263, 195–214.

Hohl, S. V.*, Becker, H., Jiang, S.-Y., Ling, H.-F., Guo, Q., & Struck, U. (2017a). Geochemistry of Ediacaran cap dolostones across the Yangtze Platform, South China: implications for diagenetic modification and seawater chemistry in the aftermath of the Marinoan glaciation. Journal of the Geological Society, 174(5), 893–912.

Hohl, S. V.*, Galer, S., Gamper, A., & Becker, H. (2017b). Cadmium isotope variations in Neoproterozoic carbonates–A tracer of biologic production? Geochemical Perspectives Letters, 3, 32–44.

Hohl, S. V.*, Jiang, S.-Y., Viehmann, S., Wei, W., Liu, Q., Wei, H.-Z., & Galer, S. J. (2020). Trace Metal and Cd Isotope Systematics of the Basal Datangpo Formation, Yangtze Platform (South China) Indicate Restrained (Bio) Geochemical Metal Cycling in Cryogenian Seawater. Geosciences, 10(1), 36.

Hohl, S. V.*, Becker, H., Gamper, A., Jiang, S.-Y., Wiechert, U., Yang, J.-H., & Wei, H.-Z. (2015a). Secular changes of water chemistry in shallow-water Ediacaranocean: Evidence from carbonates at Xiaofenghe, Three Gorges area, Yangtze Platform, South China. Precambrian Research, 270, 50–79.

Hohl, S. V.*, Becker, H., Herzlieb, S., & Guo, Q. (2015b). Multiproxy constraints on alteration and primary compositions of Ediacaran deep-water carbonate rocks, Yangtze Platform, South China. Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 163, 262–278.

Steiner, M., Hohl, S. V.*, Yang, B., Huang, X., & LI, D. (2021). Rewriting the Cambrian biogeography of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt using combined faunal cluster, zircon age and C isotope analysis. Geophysical Research Letters, e2021GL093133.

Viehmann, S., Hohl, S. V.*, Kraemer, D., Bau, M., Walde, D. H., Galer, S. J., et al. (2019). Metal cycling in Mesoproterozoic microbial habitats: Insights from trace elements and stable Cd isotopes in stromatolites. Gondwana Research, 67, 101–114.

Zhang, Y., Yang, T.*, Hohl, S. V.*, Zhu, B., He, T., Pan, W., et al. (2020). Seawater carbon 

and strontium isotope variations through the late Ediacaran to late Cambrian in the Tarim Basin. Precambrian Research, 345, 105769.