Articles | Volume 34, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-34-77-2022
https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-34-77-2022
Research article
 | 
28 Jan 2022
Research article |  | 28 Jan 2022

Sedimentary pyrite as a trap of organic matter: preliminary results from large-framboid observation

Nicolas Tribovillard, Viviane Bout-Roumazeilles, Marion Delattre, Sandra Ventalon, and Abderrahmane Bensadok

Related subject area

Environmental and bio-mineralogy
Chapmanite [Fe2Sb(Si2O5)O3(OH)]: thermodynamic properties and formation in low-temperature environments
Juraj Majzlan, Stefan Kiefer, Kristina Lilova, Tamilarasan Subramani, Alexandra Navrotsky, Edgar Dachs, and Artur Benisek
Eur. J. Mineral., 33, 357–371, https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-33-357-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/ejm-33-357-2021, 2021
Short summary

Cited articles

Baumgartner, R. J., Van Kranendonk, M. J., Wacey, D., Fiorentini, M. L., Saunders, M., Caruso, S., Pages, A., Homann, M., and Guagliardo, P.: Nanoporous pyrite and organic matter in 3.5-billion-year-old stromatolites record primordial life, Geology, 47, 1039–1043, https://doi.org/10.1130/G46365.1, 2019. 
Bebié, J. and Schoonen, M. A. A.: Pyrite surface interaction with selected organic aqueous species under anoxic conditions, Geochem. Trans. 1, 47, https://doi.org/10.1186/1467-4866-1-47, 2000. 
Berner, R. A.: Early Diagenesis: a Theoretical Approach​​​​​​​, Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA, ISBN 0-691-08258-8, 1980. 
Boetius, A., Ravenschlag, K., Schubert, C. J., Rickert, D., Widdel, F., Gieseke, A., Amann, R., Jørgensen, B. B., Witte, U., and Pfannkuche, O.: A marine microbial consortium apparently mediating anaerobic oxidation of methane, Nature 407, 623–626, 2000. 
Bout-Roumazeilles, V., Cortijo, E., Labeyrie, L., and Debrabant, P.: Clay-mineral evidence of nepheloid layer contribution to the Heinrich layers in the Northwest Atlantic, Palaeogeogr. Palaeocl., 146, 211–228, 1999. 
Download
Short summary
The studied succession of limestone and marls is enriched in pyrite framboids. The question is, could sulfate-reducing bacteria have been trapped in pyrite sarcophagi induced by their own metabolism? Our analysis reveals the presence of abundant organic matter. The typical morphology of framboids suggests the early fossilization of bacterial colonies by pyrite. If pyrite is a trap for organic molecules, then pyrite could be an underevaluated component of the C cycle.