Review on the research of rare earth elements in microbialites

The composition characteristics of rare earth elements (REE) in ancient sedimentary rocks play an important role in explain-ing the source of REE in palaeoseawater and the geochemical evolution of seawater. Marine inorganic and biogenic minerals have various problems in preserving the information of REE of ancient seawater. Early studies believe that microbialites was the most reliable geological sample that can record REE signals in ancient seawater because of its induced mineralization. However, the latest research has found that diagenesis and terrigenous clastics inputs can cause the fractionation of REE in microbialites, which may bias palaeoenvironmental interpretations. However, the mechanism of non-seawater controlling factors on the fractionation of REE in microbialites is not clear, and there is a lack of systematic research, which leads to questioning the reliability of REE in microbialites to indicate paleoenvironment. How to extract true and reliable ancient sea-water REE signals from microbialites is the main problem in the future research, which is key for solving the major scientific problems of the evolution of REE in ancient seawater over time, and for understanding the co-evolution of biology and envi-ronment in geological history.

Project Supported:

Clc Number: