Laboratory cultures of calcifying biomicrospheres generate ooids - A contribution to the origin of oolites

The in vitro production of ooid-like structures as possible precursors of oolites has been observed in laboratory cultures of spherical microbial communities isolated from the Wadden Sea (North Sea). The microbial spherulites consist of aggregated benthic diatoms (Navicula perminuta) enveloped by layers of filamentous cyanobacteria of the genus Phormidium and a halo-like biofilm of heterotrophic bacteria. The development of the structures takes several months and these configurations appear to be stable, before they calcify. The precipitation starts on the surface of the spheres as clouds of small scattered crystals, which later increase in size and aggregate to form hollow spheres around the microbial assemblage. Here we report for the first time carbonate precipitation in defined spherical microbial communities.