The rock-forming role of biota

Abstract

Stromatolites and other microbiolites formed in early epochs as a result of the life activity of primitive communities of microorganisms. It has become possible to prove that communities of higher organisms can form more powerful layers of sedimentary rocks. Back at the beginning of the 20th century, some geologists and soil scientists proposed a soil-related theory of the origin of loess and other sedimentary rocks, but this idea did not gain recognition. Functional ecology describes the metabolism of ecosystems with the utilization of waste in the form of sediments, which geologists jointly with ecologists can verify in model experiment. Then it will be possible to read freely the calendar of nature coded in stratigraphic columns of geological cross sections.